THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 
OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


GIFT  OF 


COMMODORE  BYRON  MCCANDLESS 


THE    WORKS    OF 

Benjamin    Franklin 

CONTAINING    SEVERAL    POLITICAL    AND     HISTORICAL 

TRACTS  NOT  INCLUDED  IN  ANY  FORMER  EDITION, 

AND    MANY    LETTERS    OFFICIAL    AND 

1'KIVATE  NOT  HITHERTO 

PUBLISHED 


WITH    NOTES    AND    A    LIFE    OF    THE    AUTHOR 

BY    JARED    SPARKS 


VOLU.MK   II. 


CHICAGO: 

TOWXSKXD  MAC  Corx, 

LONDON:    II.  F.  STKVKXS. 

1882. 


£ 
302. 


CONTENTS 


VOLUME    SECOND. 


ESSAYS  ON  RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL   SUBJECTS 
AND  THE  ECONOMY  OF  LIFE. 

Page 

Articles  of  Belief  and  Acts  of  Religion          ...       .       .1 
Rules  for  a  Club  established  for  Mutual  Improvement      .         9 

The  Busy  Body 13 

"        "         No.  1 14 

No.  II 17 

"         "         No.  Ill 19 

"        "         No.  IV 23 

"        "         No.  V.      . 30 

"        <l         No.  VIII.    .       .       .       ...       .38 

Dialogue    between    Philocles    and    Horatio,    concerning 

Virtue   and   Pleasure 46 

A    Second    Dialogue    between    Philocles    and    Horatio, 

concerning  Virtue  and  Pleasure         .  51 

Public  Men 57 

Self-Denial  not  the  Essence  of  Virtue          .       .       .       .63 

On  the  Usefulness  of  the  Mathematics  66 

On  True  Happiness  .  ......    70 

On  Discoveries .73 


VI  CONTENTS. 

The  Waste  of  Life .77 

Necessary  Hints  to  those  that  would  be  rich  ...  80 
The  Way  to  make  Money  plenty  in  every  Man's  Pocket  .  82 
Rivalship  in  Almanac-Making  .  ...  83 

Rules  of  Health 86 

Advice  to  a  Young   Tradesman 87 

Plan  for  saving  One  Hundred  Thousand  Pounds  .      89 

The  Way  to  Wealth  ;    being  a  Summary  of  the  Maxims 

and  Proverbs  in  Poor  Richard's  Almanac  .  92 
Observations  on  Mayz,  or  Indian  Corn  .  .  .  .103 
Precautions  to  be  used  by  those  who  are  about  to 

undertake  a   Sea  Voyage 106 

Toleration  in  Old  England  and  New  England,     .        .        .112 

A  Parable  against  Persecution 118 

A   Parable  on  Brotherly  Love 123 

Sketch  of  an  English  School 125 

^f  Observations    relative    to    the    Intentions    of  the    original 

Founders   of  the   Academy   in  Philadelphia  .        .133 
Hints   for  Consideration    respecting    the  Orphan   School- 
House   in  Philadelphia 159 

Paper,  a   Poem 161 

BAGATELLES. 

The  Levee 164 

Proposed  New  Version  of  the   Bible          .       .       .       .166 

Apologue 168 

To  Miss  Georgiana  Shipley,  on  the  Loss  of  her  Squirrel  170 
The  Art  of  procuring  Pleasant  Dreams  .  .  .  .171 
The  Ephemera,  an  Emblem  of  Human  Life  .  .  177 

The  Whistle 180 

A   Petition  of  the  Left  Hand,  to  those  who  have  the 

Superintendency  of  Education  .  .  .  .  183 
The  Handsome  and  Deformed  Leg  .  .  .  .135 


CONTENTS.  Vll 

Morals  of  Chess            .        .       .        .       .       .        -        .  187 

A    Tale 192 

An   Arabian    Tale 193 

Dialogue  between   Franklin  and   the   Gout          .        .        .194 

To   Madame  Helvetius,   at   Auteuil          ....  201 

To  Madame   Helvetius           204 

An    Humble  Petition,    presented    to    Madame  Helvetius 

by  her  Cats 214 

To  the   Abbe  de  la  Roche,  at  Auteuil 220 

To  the  Abbe   Morellet 222 

An  Economical   Project 227 

The  Craven- Street  Gazette 233 

A   Letter  from  China          .       .       .       .       .       .       .  241 


ESSAYS  ON   GENERAL    POLITICS,  COMMERCE, 
AND  POLITICAL  ECONOMY. 

A    Modest  Inquiry  into  the  Nature  and  Necessity  of  a 

Paper  Currency 253 

On  Government.      No.   I 278 

No.  II .    282 

On  Freedom  of  Speech  and   the   Press  .       .        .       285 

Observations   concerning    the    Increase    of  Mankind    and 

the   Peopling  of  Countries 311 

Remarks  on  some  of  the  Foregoing  Observations,  showing 
particularly  the  Effects  which  Manners  have  on 
Population 32  J 

Remarks  on    Judge  Foster's  Argument  in  Favor  of  the 

Right  of   Impressing   Seamen 33' 

Remarks    and    Facts    relative    to    the    American    Paper 

Money 340 

On  the   Price  of  Corn,  and    Management  of  the  Poor       355 

On   Smuggling,  and  its   Various  Species      .       .       .       .361 


V'lll  CONTENTS. 

Note  respecting  Trade  and  Manufactures  .  .  .  366 

On  the  Laboring  Poor 367 

Some  good  Whig  Principles 372 

Positions  to  be  examined,  concerning  National  Wealth  .  373 

Plan  for  Benefiting  distant  unprovided  Countries  .  .  377 

Concerning  the  Provision  made  in  China  against  Famine  381 

Principles  of  Trade  383 

Reflections  on  Coin  in  general,  being  an  Appendix  to 

the  above  Essay  .  400 

Notions  concerning  Trade  and  Merchants  .  .  .  .418 

A  Thought  concerning  the  Sugar  Islands  .  .  .  419 

On  the  Paper  Money  of  the  United  States  of  America  .  421 
Comparison  of  Great  Britain  and  the  United  States,  in 

Regard  to  the  Basis  of  Credit  in  the  two  Countries  426 
Reflections  on  the  Augmentation  of  Wages,  which  will 

be    occasioned     in    Europe     by     the     American 

Revolution  435 

On  Luxury,  Idleness,  and  Industry 448 

Remarks  concerning  the  Savages  of  North  Amciicii  .  453 
The  Internal  State  of  America;  being  a  true  Description 

of  the  Interest  and  Policy  of  that  vast  Continent  461 

Information  to  those  who  would  remove  to  America  467 

On  the  Criminal  Laws  and  the  Practice  of  Privateering  478 

Observations  on  War 487 

On  the  Elective  Franchises,  enjoyed  by  the  small 

Boroughs  in  England 489 

Sir  Charles  Wyvill's  Answer  to  the  foregoing  Paper  492 

Militia  preferable  to  Regular  Troops  ....  494 

On  sending  Felons  to  America 495 

The  Retort  Courteous 498 

An  Account  of  the  Supremest  Court  of  Judicature  in 

Pennsylvania,  viz.  The  Court  of  the  Press  .  SOS 

Plan  for  Improving  the  Condition  of  the  Free  Blacks  .  51U 
An  Address  to  the  Public  ;  from  the  Pennsylvania 

Society    for  promoting   the  Abolition  of  Slavery, 


CONTENTS.  ix 

and  i IK?  Relief  of  Free  Negroes  unlawfully   held  in 

Bondage      .       . 515 

On  the   Slave-Trade .517 


SUPPLEMENT. 

A  Lecture  on  the  Providence  of  God  in  the  Government 

of  the  World 525 

Letter  from  Anthony  Afterwit 532 

Letter  from  Celia  Single 536 

On  Scandil ,  539 

A  Case  of  Casuisuy    ....               .                        .  545 

Miscellaneous  Observations                        .       .        .       .  549 

Proposals  and  Queries  for  the  consideration  of  the  Junto  551 


ESSAYS 


MORAL    SUBJECTS 


THE    ECONOMY    OF    LIFE 


ESSAYS 


RELIGIOUS  AND  MORAL   SUBJECTS 


ECONOMY    OF    LIFE. 


ARTICLES  OF  BELIEF  AND  ACTS  OF  RELIGION.* 
PART    FIRST. 

"  Here  will  I  hold.    If  there 's  a  power  above  us, 
(And  that  there  is,  all  nature  cries  aloud, 
Through  all  her  works,)  He  must  delight  in  virtue ; 
And  that  which  he  delights  in  must  be  happy." 

ADDISON'S  CATO. 

FIRST    PRINCIPLES. 

I  BELIEVE  there  is  one  supreme,  most  perfect  Being, 
author  and  father  of  the  gods  themselves. 

For  I  believe  that  man  is  not  the  most  perfect  being 
but  one,  but  rather  that  there  are  many  degrees  of 
beings  superior  to  him. 

Also,  when  I  stretch  my  imagination  through  and  be- 
yond our  system  of  planets,  beyond  the  visible  fixed 
stars  themselves,  into  that  space  that  is  every  way 
infinite,  and  conceive  it  filled  with  suns  like  ours,  each 
with  a  chorus  of  worlds  for  ever  moving  round  him ; 
then  this  little  ball  on  which  we  move,  seems,  even  in 

*  This  paper  bears  the  date  of  November  20th,  1728,  when  the  author 
was  twenty-two  years  old.  It  purports  to  be  the  FIRST  PART  ;  but  th* 
continuation  has  never  been  published. — EDITOR. 

VOL.    II.  1 


2  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

my  narrow  imagination,  to  be  almost  nothing,  and  my- 
self less  than  nothing,  and  of  no  sort  of  consequence. 

When  I  think  thus,  I  imagine  it  great  vanity  in  me 
to  suppose,  that  the  Supremely  Perfect  does  in  the 
least  regard  such  an  inconsiderable  nothing  as  man ; 
more  especially,  since  it  is  impossible  for  me  to  have 
any  clear  idea  of  that  which  is  infinite  and  incompre- 
hensible, I  cannot  conceive  otherwise,  than  that  he  the 
Infinite  Father  expects  or  requires  no  worship  or  praise 
from  us,  but  that  he  is  even  infinitely  above  it. 

But,  since  there  is  in  all  men  something  like  a  natural 
principle,  which  inclines  them  to  DEVOTION,  or  the 
worship  of  some  unseen  power; 

And  since  men  are  endued  with  reason  superior  to  all 
other  animals,  that  we  are  in  our  world  acquainted  with ; 

Therefore  I  think  it  seems  required  of  me,  and  my 
duty  as  a  man,  to  pay  divine  regards  to  SOMETHING. 

I  conceive,  then,  that  the  INFINITE  has  created  many 
beings  or  gods,  vastly  superior  to  man,  who  can  better 
conceive  his  perfections  than  we,  and  return  him  a 
more  rational  and  glorious  praise ;  as,  among  men,  the 
praise  of  the  ignorant  or  of  children  is  not  regarded 
by  the  ingenious  painter  or  architect,  who  is  rather 
honored  and  pleased  with  the  approbation  of  wise 
men  and  artists. 

It  may  be  these  created  gods  are  immortal ;  or  it 
may  be,  that,  after  many  ages,  they  are  changed,  and 
others  supply  their  places. 

Howbeit,  I  conceive  that  each  of  these  is  exceeding 
wise  and  good,  and  very  powerful  ;  and  that  each  has 
made  for  himself  one  glorious  sun,  attended  with  a 
beautiful  and  admirable  system  of  planets. 

It  is  that  particular  wise  and  good  God,  who  is  the 
author  and  owner  of  our  system,  that  I  propose  for  the 
object  of  my  praise  and  adoration. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  3 

For  I  conceive  that  he  has  in  himself  some  of  those 
passions  he  has  planted  in  us ;  and  that,  since  he  has 
given  us  reason  whereby  we  are  capable  of  observing 
his  wisdom  in  the  creation,  he  is  not  above  caring  for 
us,  being  pleased  with  our  praise,  and  offended  when 
we  slight  him,  or  neglect  his  glory. 

I  conceive,  for  many  reasons,  that  he  is  a  good  Be- 
ing ;  and,  as  I  should  be  happy  to  have  so  wise,  good, 
and  powerful  a  Being  my  friend,  let  me  consider  in  what 
manner  I  shall  make  myself  most  acceptable  to  him. 

Next  to  the  praise  resulting  from  and  due  to  his 
wisdom,  I  believe  he  is  pleased  and  delights  in  the 
happiness  of  those  he  has  created ;  and,  since  without 
virtue  a  man  can  have  no  happiness  in  this  world,  I 
firmly  believe  he  delights  to  see  me  virtuous,  because 
he  is  pleased  when  he  sees  me  happy. 

And  since  he  has  created  many  things,  which  seem 
purely  designed  for  the  delight  of  man,  I  believe  he  is 
not  offended,  when  he  sees  his  children  solace  them- 
selves in  any  manner  of  pleasant  exercises  and  innocent 
delights ;  and  I  think  no  pleasure  innocent,  that  is  to 
man  hurtful. 

I  love  him  therefore  for  his  goodness,  and  I  adore 
him  for  his  wisdom. 

Let  me  not  fail,  then,  to  praise  my  God  continu- 
ally, for  it  is  his  due,  and  it  is  all  I  can  return  for 
his  many  favors  and  great  goodness  to  me ;  and  let 
me  resolve  to  be  virtuous,  that  I  may  be  happy,  that 
I  may  please  him,  who  is  delighted  to  see  me  happy. 
Amen! 

ADORATION. 

PREL.  Being  mindful,  that,  before  I  address  the 
Deity,  my  soul  ought  to  be  calm  and  serene,  free 
from  passion  and  perturbation,  or  otherwise  elevated 


4  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

with  rational  joy  and  pleasure,  I  ought  to  use  a 
countenance  that  expresses  a  filial  respect,  mixed 
with  a  kind  of  smiling,  that  signifies  inward  joy,  and 
satisfaction,  and  admiration. 

O  wise  God,  my  good  Father! 
Thou  beholdest  the  sincerity  of  my  heart  and  of  my 
devotion ;  grant  me  a  continuance  of  thy  favor ! 

1.  O  Creator,  O  Father!  I  believe  that  thou  art  good, 
and  that  thou  art  pleased  with  the  pleasure  of  thy  chil- 
dren.— Praised  be  thy  name  for  ever! 

2.  By  thy  power  hast  thou  made  the  glorious  sun, 
with   his   attending  worlds ;   from  the  energy  of  thy 
mighty  will,  they  first  received  [their  prodigious]  mo- 
tion, and  by  thy  wisdom  hast  thou  prescribed  the  won- 
drous  laws,   by   which  they  move.  —  Praised  be  thy 
name  for  ever ! 

3.  By  thy  wisdom  hast  thou  formed  all  things ;  thou 
hast  created  man,  bestowing  life  and  reason,  and  placed 
him  in  dignity  superior  to  thy  other  earthly  creatures. 
—  Praised  be  thy  name  for  ever ! 

4.  Thy  wisdom,  thy  power,  and  thy  goodness    are 
everywhere  clearly  seen ;  in  the  air  and  in  the  water, 
in  the  heavens  and  on  the  earth  ;   thou  providest  for 
the  various  winged  fowl,  and  the  innumerable  inhab- 
itants of  the  water;  thou  givest  cold  and  heat,  rain 
and  sunshine,  in  their  season,  and  to  the  fruits  of  the 
earth  their  increase. — Praised  be  thy  name  for  ever! 

5.  Thou  abhorrest  in  thy  creatures  treachery  and  de- 
ceit, malice,  revenge,  [intemperance,]  and  every  other 
hurtful  vice ;  but  thou  art  a  lover  of  justice  and  sin- 
cerity, of  friendship  and  benevolence,  and  every  virtue  • 
thou  art  my  friend,  my  father,  and  my  benefactor.— 
Praised  be  thy  name,  O  God,  for  ever !     Amen. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  5 

[After  this,  it  will  not  be  improper  to  read  part  of 
some  such  book  as  Ray's  Wisdom  of  God  in  tlie  Crea- 
tion, or  Blackmore  on  the  Creation,  and  the  Archbishop 
of  Cambray's  Demonstration  of  the  Being  of  a  God,  &LC., 
or  else  spend  some  minutes  in  a  serious  silence,  con- 
templating on  those  subjects.] 

Then  sing 

MILTON'S  HYMN  TO  THE  CREATOR. 

"  These  are  thy  glorious  works,  Parent  of  good, 
Almighty,  thine  this  universal  frame, 
Thus  wondrous  fair ;  thyself  how  wondrous  then  ! 
Speak  ye  who  best  can  tell,  ye  sons  of  light, 
Angels,  for  ye  behold  him,   and  with  songs 
And  choral  symphonies,  day  without  night, 
Circle  his  throne  rejoicing ;   ye  in  heaven, 
On  earth  join  all  ye  creatures  to  extol 
Him  first,  him  last,  him  midst,  and  without  end. 

"  Fairest  of  stars,  last  in  the  train  of  night, 
If  rather  thou  belong  not  to  the  dawn, 
Sure  pledge  of  day,  that  crown'st  the  smiling  morn 
With  thy  bright  circlet,  praise  him  in  thy  sphere 
While  day  arises,  that  sweet  hour  of  prime. 
Thou  sun,  of  this  great  world  both  eye  and  soul, 
Acknowledge  him  thy  greater;  sound  his  praise 
In  thy  eternal  course,  both  when  thou  climb'st, 
And  when  high  noon  hast  gain'd,  and  when  thou  falPst. 
Moon,  that  now  meet'st  the  orient  sun,  now  fly'st, 
With  the  fix'd  stars,  fix'd  in  their  orb  that  flies ; 
And  ye  five  other  wandering  fires,  that  move 
In  mystic  dance  not  without  song,  resound 
His  praise,  who  out  of  darkness  call'd  up  light. 
Air,   and  ye  elements,   the  eldest  birth 
Of  nature's  womb,  that  in  quaternion  run 
Perpetual  circle,  multiform,  and  mix 
And  nourish  all  things  ;  let  your  ceaseless  change 
Vary  to  our  great  Maker  still  new  praise. 
Ye  mists  and  exhalations,   that  now  rise 
From  hill  or  steaming  lake,  dusky  or  grey, 
Till  the  sun  paint  your  fleecy  skirts  with  gold, 
In  honor  to  the  world's  great  Author  rise  ; 


6  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

Whether  to  deck  with  clouds  the  uncolored  sky, 

Or  wet  the  thirsty  earth  with  falling  showers, 

Rising  or  falling  still  advance  his  praise. 

His  praise,  ye  winds   that  from  four  quarters  blow, 

Breathe  soft  or  loud  ;    and  wave  your  tops,  ye  pines, 

With  every  plant,  in  sign  of  worship  wave. 

Fountains,   and  ye  that  warble,  as  ye  flow, 

Melodious  murmurs,  warbling  tune  his  praise. 

Join  voices,  all  ye  living  souls ;  ye  birds, 

That  singing,  up  to  heaven  gate  ascend, 

Bear  on  your  wings  and  in  your  notes  his  praise ; 

Ye  that  in  waters  glide,  and  ye  that  walk 

The  earth,  and  stately  tread,  or  lowly  creep ; 

Witness  if  I  be  silent,  morn  or  even, 

To  hill,  or  valley,  fountain,  or  fresh  shade, 

Made  vocal  by  my  song,  and  taught  his  praise." 

[Here  follows  the  reading  of  some  book,  or  part  of 
a  book,  discoursing  on  and  exciting  to  moral  virtue.] 

PETITION. 

PREL.  Inasmuch  as  by  reason  of  our  ignorance  we 
cannot  be  certain  that  many  things,  which  we  often  hear 
mentioned  in  the  petitions  of  men  to  the  Deity,  would 
prove  real  goods,  if  they  were  in  our  possession,  and  as 
I  have  reason  to  hope  and  believe  that  the  goodness  of 
my  heavenly  Father  will  not  withhold  from  me  a  suita- 
ble share  of  temporal  blessings,  if  by  a  virtuous  and 
holy  life  I  conciliate  his  favor  and  kindness ;  therefore 
I  presume  not  to  ask  such  things ;  but  rather,  humbly, 
and  with  a  sincere  heart,  express  my  earnest  desire 
that  he  would  graciously  assist  my  continual  endeavours 
and  resolutions  of  eschewing  vice  and  embracing  vir- 
tue ;  which  kind  of  supplications  will  at  the  same  time 
remind  me  hi  a  solemn  manner  of  my  extensive  duty. 

That  I  may  be  preserved  from  atheism,  impiety,  and 
profaneness ;  and,  in  my  addresses  to  Thee,  carefully 
avoid  irreverence  and  ostentation,  formality  and  odious 
hypocrisy, — Help  me,  O  Father! 


MISCELLANEOUS.  7 

That  I  may  be  loyal  to  my  prince,  and  faithful  to 
my  country,  careful  for  its  good,  valiant  in  its  defence, 
and  obedient  to  its  laws,  abhorring  treason  as  much 
as  tyranny,  —  Help  me,  O  Father! 

That  I  may  to  those  above  me  be  dutiful,  humble, 
and  submissive ;  avoiding  pride,  disrespect,  and  con- 
tumacy, —  Help  me,  O  Father ! 

That  I  may  to  those  below  me  be  gracious,  conde- 
scending, and  forgiving,  using  clemency,  protecting  in- 
nocent distress,  avoiding  cruelty,  harshness,  and  op- 
pression, insolence,  and  unreasonable  severity,  —  Help 
me,  0  Father! 

That  I  may  refrain  from  calumny  and  detraction  ; 
that  I  may  abhor  and  avoid  deceit  and  envy,  fraud, 
flattery,  and  hatred,  malice,  lying,  and  ingratitude,  — 
Help  me,  O  Father! 

•  That  I  may  be  sincere  in  friendship,  faithful  in  trust, 
and  impartial  in  judgment,  watchful  against  pride,  and 
against  anger  (that  momentary  madness), — Help  me, 
0  Father! 

That  I  may  be  just  in  all  my  dealings,  temperate 
in  my  pleasures,  full  of  candor  and  ingenuousness,  hu- 
manity and  benevolence,  —  Help  me,  O  Father ! 

That  I  may  be  grateful  to  my  benefactors,  and  gen- 
erous to  my  friends,  exercising  charity  and  liberality 
to  the  poor,  and  pity  to  the  miserable, — Help  me,  O 
Father! 

That  I  may  possess  integrity  and  evenness  of  mind, 
resolution  in  difficulties,  and  fortitude  under  affliction  ; 
that  I  may  be  punctual  in  performing  my  promises, 
peaceable  and  prudent  in  my  behaviour,  —  Help  me, 
0  Father! 

That  I  may  have  tenderness  for  the  weak,  and  rev- 
erent respect  for  the  ancient ;  that  I  may  be  kind  to 


8  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

my  neighbours,  good-natured  to  my  companions,  and 
hospitable  to  strangers,  —  Help  me,  O  Father ! 

That  I  may  be  averse  to  craft  and  over-reaching, 
abhor  extortion,  perjury,  and  every  kind  of  wicked- 
ness, —  Help  me,  O  Father ! 

That  I  may  be  honest  and  open-hearted,  gentle, 
merciful,  and  good,  cheerful  in  spirit,  rejoicing  in  the 
good  of  others,  —  Help  me,  O  Father! 

That  I  may  have  a  constant  regard  to  honor  and 
probity,  that  I  may  possess  a  perfect  innocence  and  a 
good  conscience,  and  at  length  become  truly  virtuous 
and  magnanimous, — Help  me,  good  God;  help  me,  O 
Father ! 

And,  forasmuch  as  ingratitude  is  one  of  the  most 
odious  of  vices,  let  me  not  be  unmindful  gratefully  to 
acknowledge  the  favors  I  receive  from  Heaven. 

THANKS. 

For  peace  and  liberty,  for  food  and  raiment,  for  corn, 
and  wine,  and  milk,  and  every  kind  of  healthful  nour- 
ishment,—  Good  God,  I  thank  thee ! 

For  the  common  benefits  of  air  and  light ;  for  use- 
ful fire  and  delicious  water, — Good  God,  I  thank  thee! 

For  knowledge,  and  literature,  and  every  useful  art  • 
for  my  friends  and  their  prosperity,  and  for  the  few- 
ness of  my  enemies, — Good  God,  I  thank  thee! 

For  all  thy  innumerable  benefits ;  for  life,  and  rea- 
son, and  the  use  of  speech;  for  health,  and  joy,  and 
every  pleasant  hour, — My  good  God,  I  thank  thee! 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


RULES  FOR  A  CLUB 
ESTABLISHED  FOR  MUTUAL   IMPROVEMENT.* 

PREVIOUS  QUESTION,  TO  BE  ANSWERED  AT  EVERT  MEETING. 

HAVE  you  read  over  these  queries  this  morning,  in 
order  to  consider  what  you  might  have  to  offer  the 
Junto  touching  any  one  of  them  1  viz. 

1.  Have  you  met  with  any  thing  in  the  author  you 
last  read,  remarkable,  or  suitable  to  be  communicated 
to  the  Junto?  particularly ' in  history,  morality,  poetry, 
physic,  travels,  mechanic  arts,  or  other  parts  of  know- 
ledge. 

2.  What  new  story  have  you  lately  heard  agreeable 
for  telling  in  conversation  ? 

3.  Hath  any  citizen  in  your  knowledge  failed  in  his 
business  lately,  and  what  have  you  heard  of  the  cause  ? 

*  These  Rules  were  drawn  up  in  the  year  1728,  and  designed  as 
general  regulations  for  a  Club,  called  THE  JUNTO,  consisting  of  a  select 
number  of  Franklin's  acquaintances  in  Philadelphia,  whom  he  had  in- 
duced to  associate  and  hold  weekly  meetings  for  mutual  improvement 
The  plan  was  to  propose  and  discuss  queries  on  points  of  morals,  politics, 
and  natural  philosophy.  "Our  debates,"  says  Franklin,  "were  to  be 
under  the  direction  of  a  president,  and  to  be  conducted  in  the  sincere 
spirit  of  inquiry  after  truth,  without  fondness  for  dispute,  or  desire  of 
victory ;  and,  to  prevent  warmth,  all  expressions  of  positiveness  in  opin- 
ions, or  direct  contradiction,  were,  after  some  time,  made  contraband,  and 
prohibited  under  small  pecuniary  penalties."  This  association  produced 
all  the  advantages  anticipated  from  it.  Forty  years  after  its  establish- 
ment, it  became  the  basis  of  the  AMERICAN  PHILOSOPHICAL  SOCIETY,  of 
which  Franklin  was  the  first  president,  and  the  published  Transactions 
of  which  have  contributed  largely  to  the  advancement  of  science  and 
the  diffusion  of  valuable  knowledge  in  the  United  States. 

When  the  Philosophical  Society  was  instituted,  a  book  containing  many 
of  the  questions  discussed  by  the  JUNTO  was  put  into  the  hands  of  Dr. 
William  Smith,  who  selected  from  it,  and  published  in  his  "  Eulogium  on 
Franklin"  (p.  13,)  the  following  specimens. —  EDITOR. 

"  Is  sound  an  entity  or  body  ? 

"  How  may  the  phenomena  of  vapors  be  explained  ? 


10  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

4.  Have  you  lately  heard  of  any  citizen's  thriving 
well,  and  by  what  means? 

5.  Have  you  lately  heard  how  any  present  rich  man, 
here  or  elsewhere,  got  his  estate  ? 

6.  Do  you  know  of  a  fellow  citizen,  who  has  lately 
done  a  worthy  action,  deserving  praise  and  imitation ;  or 
who  has  lately  committed  an  error,  proper  for  us  to 
be  warned  against  and  avoid  ? 

7.  What  unhappy  effects  of  intemperance  have  you 
lately  observed  or  heard ;  of  imprudence,  of  passion,  or 
of  any  other  vice  or  folly  ? 

.    8.  What  happy  effects  of  temperance,  of  prudence, 
of  moderation,  or  of  any  other  virtue  ? 

9.  Have  you  or  any  of  your  acquaintance  been  late- 
ly sick  or  wounded  ?    If  so,  what  remedies  were  used, 
and  what  were  their  effects  ? 

10.  Whom  do    you    know    that   are    shortly   going 
voyages   or  journeys,  if  one  should  have  occasion  to 
send  by  them? 

"  Is  self-interest  the  rudder  that  steers  mankind,  the  universal  monarch 
to  whom  all  are  tributaries  ? 

"  Which  is  the  best  form  of  government,  and  what  was  that  form  which 
first  prevailed  among  mankind  ? 

"  Can  any  one  particular  form  of  government  suit  all  mankind  ? 

"  What  is  the  reason  that  the  tides  rise  higher  in  the  Bay  of  Fundy, 
than  the  Bay  of  Delaware  ? 

"  Is  the  emission  of  paper  money  safe  ? 

"  What  is  the  reason  that  men  of  the  greatest  knowledge  are  not  the 
most  happy  ? 

"  How  may  the  possessions  of  the  Lakes  be  improved  to  our  advantage  ? 

"  Why  are  tumultuous,  uneasy  sensations,  united  with  our  desires  ? 

"Whether  it  ought  to  be  the  aim  of  philosophy  to  eradicate  the 
passions  ? 

"  How  may  smoky  chimneys  be  best  cured  ? 

"Why  does  the  flame  of  a  candle  tend  upwards  in  a  spire  ? 

"Which  is  least  criminal,  a  bad  action  joined  with  a  good  intention, 
or  a  gnod  action  with  a  bad  intention  ? 

"  Is  it  inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  liberty  in  a  free  government, 
to  punish  a  man  as  a  libeller,  when  he  speaks  the  truth  ?  " 


MISCELLANEOUS.  11 

1 1 .  Do  you  think  of  any  thing  at  present,  in  which 
the   Junto   may   be   serviceable   to   mankind,   to  their 
country,  to  their  friends,  or  to  themselves  ? 

12.  Hath    any    deserving   stranger   arrived   in  town 
since  last  meeting,  that  you  have  heard  of  ?     And  what 
have  you  heard  or  observed  of  his  character  or  merits  ? 
And  whether,  think  you,  it  lies  in  the  power  of  the 
Junto  to  oblige  him,  or  encourage  him  as  he  deserves  ? 

13.  Do  you  know  of  any  deserving  young  beginner 
lately  set  up,  whom  it   lies  in  the  power  of  the  Junto 
any  way  to  encourage  ? 

14.  Have  you  lately  observed  any  defect  in  the  laws, 
of  your  country,  of  which  it  would  be  proper  to  move 
the  legislature  for  an   amendment  1     Or  do  you  know 
of  any  beneficial  law  that  is  wanting  ? 

15.  Have  you  lately  observed  any  encroachment  on 
the  just  liberties  of  the  people  ? 

16.  Hath  any  body  attacked  your  reputation  lately  ? 
And  what  can  the  Junto  do  towards  securing  it  ? 

17.  Is  there  any  man  whose  friendship  you  want, 
and  which  the  Junto,   or  any  of  them,  can  procure  for 
you  ? 

18.  Have  you  lately  heard  any  member's  character 
attacked,  and  how  have  you  defended  it  ? 

19.  Hath  any  man  injured  you,  from  whom  it  is  in 
the  power  of  the  Junto  to  procure  redress  ? 

20.  In  what  manner  can  the  Junto,  or  any  of  them, 
assist  you  in  any  of  your  honorable  designs  ? 

21.  Have  you  any  weighty  affair  on  hand,  in  which 
you  think  the  advice  of  the  Junto  may  be  of  service  ? 

22.  What   benefits   have   you  lately  received    from 
any  man  not  present  ? 

23.  Is  there  any  difficulty  in  matters  of  opinion,  of 
justice,  and  injustice,  which  you  would    gladly   have 
discussed  at  this  time  ? 


12  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

24.  Do  you  see  any  thing  amiss  in  the  present  cus- 
toms or  proceedings  of  the  Junto,  which  might  be 
amended  ? 

Any  person  to  be  qualified  [as  a  member  of  the 
JUNTO],  to  stand  up,  and  lay  his  hand  upon  his  breast, 
and  be  asked  these  questions,  viz. 

1.  Have  you  any  particular  disrespect  to  any  present 
members  1     Answer.     I  have  not. 

2.  Do  you  sincerely  declare,  that  you  love  mankind 
in   general,   of    what    profession    or   religion    soever? 
Answer.     I  do. 

3.  Do  you  think  any  person  ought  to  be  harmed  in 
his  body,  name,  or  goods,  for  mere  speculative  opin- 
ions, or  his  external  way  of  worship  ?     Answer.     No. 

4.  Do  you  love  truth  for  truth's   sake,   and  will  you 
endeavour  impartially  to  find  and  receive  it   yourself, 
and  communicate  it  to  others  1     Answer.     Yes. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  13 


THE  BUSY-BODY. 


AFTER  Franklin's  return  from  his  first  visit  to  England,  he  en- 
gaged in  the  printing  business  on  his  own  account  at  Philadelphia, 
and  formed  the  project  of  setting  up  a  newspaper.  There  were 
at  this  time  two  other  printers  in  the  city,  Keimer  and  Bradford, 
and  the  latter  published  a  gazette,  called  The  Weekly  Mercury, 
being  the  first  newspaper  printed  in  Pennsylvania.  Having  but  a 
poor  opinion  of  this  paper  as  then  conducted,  and  yet  perceiving 
that  it  was  profitable  to  the  proprietor,  Franklin  thought  there  was 
a  fair  opportunity  for  a  successful  rivalship.  He  intended  to  keep 
his  design  a  secret,  however,  till  he  should  be  ready  to  put  it  in 
execution ;  but  in  the  mean  time  he  unguardedly  communicated  it 
to  George  Webb,  a  journeyman  printer,  who  applied  to  him  for 
employment,  and  who  made  haste  to  convey  the  news  to  Keimer. 

Stimulated  by  jealousy,  or  by  a  temper  ill  suited  to  gain  or  pre- 
serve friends,  Keimer  immediately  resolved,  in  concert  with  Webb, 
to  take  advantage  of  this  hint,  and  issued  proposals  for  publishing 
a  paper  himself.  Franklin  was  piqued  at  this  ungenerous  inter- 
ference, and  he  conceived  it  justifiable  by  proper  means  to  defeat 
Keimer's  plan.  With  this  aim  he  commenced  writing  a  series  of 
pieces  in  Bradford's  paper,  under  the  title  of  THE  BUSY-BODY, 
which  were  of  an  amusing  cast,  and  designed  to  draw  the  attention 
of  the  public  to  that  paper.  He  and  his  friend  Breintnal,  at  the 
same  time,  united  their  wits  in  burlesquing  and  ridiculing  Keimer's 
proposals.  The  effect  was  such  as  he  desired.  Keimer  set  his 
paper  on  foot ;  but  it  was  so  ill  supported,  that  it  languished  from 
the  beginning,  and  before  the  end  of  the  year  he  was  glad  to  sell 
it  to  Franklin  for  a  small  consideration. 

The  Essays  of  THE  BUSY-BODY  are  curious,  as  being  the  earliest 
regular  compositions,  which  are  known  to  have  come  from  the  pen 
of  Franklin.  They  were  written  at  the  beginning  of  his  twenty- 
third  year.  The  style  is  marked  by  the  peculiar  characteristics, 
which  prevail  in  all  his  subsequent  writings ;  ease,  simplicity,  clear- 
ness, and  a  pure  English  idiom  ;  and  these  qualities,  indeed,  in 
which  he  is  everywhere  unrivalled,  seem  to  have  been  scarcely  less 


14  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

a  gift  of  nature  than  the  effect  of  study.  Without  any  display  of 
ornament,  or  labored  flights  of  fancy,  his  thoughts  flow  smoothly 
onward,  and  are  conveyed  in  a  language  so  lucid  and  expressive, 
that  the  reader's  mind  is  never  for  a  moment  embarrassed  with 
obscurity  or  doubt.  In  judging  of  the  merits  of  these  essays,  in 
regard  to  the  topics  upon  which  they  turn,  and  the  mode  of  treating 
them,  it  would  be  unjust  to  the  author  not  to  keep  in  mind  his 
pursuits  and  habits  of  life  up  to  the  time  when  they  were  written, 
and  the  forms  of  society  with  which  his  circumstances  had  neces- 
sarily made  him  familiar.  And  it  should  equally  be  remembered, 
that  he  did  not  write  for  literary  fame,  nor  to  win  the  applause 
of  refined  circles,  but  merely  to  amuse  himself  and  effect  a  tern-' 
porary  purpose. 

The  first  five  numbers  and  the  eighth  of  THE  BUSY-BODY  are 
considered  as  having  been  unquestionably  written  by  Franklin. 
Whether  he  wrote  more  is  uncertain.  The  series  was  continued 
to  thirty-two  numbers,  chiefly  if  not  wholly  by  Breintnal.  —  EDITOR. 


THE  BUSY-BODY.  — No.  I. 

TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY  4,  1728-9. 

MR.  ANDREW  BRADFORD, 

I  DESIGN  this  to  acquaint  you,  that  I,  who  have 
long  been  one  of  your  courteous  readers,  have  lately 
entertained  some  thought  of  setting  up  for  an  author 
myself;  not  out  of  the  least  vanity,  I  assure  you,  or 
desire  of  showing  my  parts,  but  purely  for  the  good 
of  my  country. 

I  have  often  observed  with  concern,  that  your  Mer- 
cury is  not  always  equally  entertaining.  The  delay 
of  ships  expected  in,  and  want  of  fresh  advices  from 
Europe,  make  it  frequently  very  dull;  and  I  find  the 
freezing  of  our  river  has  the  same  effect  on  news  a*s 
trade.  With  more  concern  have  I  continually  observed 
the  growing  vices  and  follies  of  my  country-folk ;  and, 
though  reformation  is  properly  the  concern  of  every 
man,  that  is,  every  one  ought  to  mend  one ;  yet  it  is 


MISCELLANEOUS.  15 

too  true  in  this  case,  that  what  is  every  body's  busi- 
ness is  nobody's  business;  and  the  business  is  done 
accordingly.  I  therefore,  upon  mature  deliberation, 
think  fit  to  take  nobody's  business  wholly  into  my  own 
hands;  and,  out  of  zeal  for  the  public  good,  design 
to  erect  myself  into  a  kind  of  censor  mot-urn ;  purpos- 
ing, with  your  allowance,  to  make  use  of  the  Weekly 
Mercury  as  a  vehicle  in  which  my  remonstrances  shall 
be  conveyed  to  the  world. 

I  am  sensible  I  have  in  this  particular  undertaken 
a  very  unthankful  office,  and  expect  little  besides  my 
labor  for  my  pains.  Nay,  it  is  probable,  I  may  dis- 
please a  great  number  of  your  readers,  who  will  not 
very  well  like  to  pay  ten  shillings  a  year  for  being  told 
of  their  faults.  But,  as  most  people  delight  in  censure 
when  they  themselves  are  not  the  objects  of  it,  if  any 
are  offended  at  my  publicly  exposing  their  private  vices, 
I  promise  they  shall  have  the  satisfaction,  in  a  very 
little  time,  of  seeing  their  good  friends  and  neighbours 
in  the  same  circumstances. 

However,  let  the  fair  sex  be  assured,  that  I  shall 
always  treat  them  and  their  affairs  with  the  utmost 
decency  and  respect.  I  intend  now  and  then  to  dedi- 
cate a  chapter  wholly  to  their  service;  and  if  my 
lectures  any  way  contribute  to  the  embellishment  of 
their  minds,  and  brightening  of  their  understandings, 
without  offending  their  modesty,  I  doubt  not  of  having 
their  favor  and  encouragement. 

It  is  certain,  that  no  country  in  the  world  produces 
naturally  finer  spirits  than  ours;  men  of  genius  for 
every  kind  of  science,  and  capable  of  acquiring  to  per- 
fection every  qualification  that  is  in  esteem  among 
mankind.  But  as  few  here  have  the  advantage  of 
good  books,  for  want  of  which  good  conversation  is 
still  more  scarce,  it  would  doubtless  have  been  very 


16  FRAN  KLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

acceptable  to  your  readers,  if,  instead  of  an  old  out-of- 
date  article  from  Muscovy  or  Hungary,  you  had  enter- 
tained them  with  some  well-chosen  extract  from  a  good 
author.  This  I  shall  sometimes  do,  when  I  happen 
to  have  nothing  of  my  own  to  say  that  I  think  of  more 
consequence.  Sometimes  I  purpose  to  deliver  lec- 
tures of  morality  or  philosophy,  and  (because  I  am 
naturally  inclined  to  be  meddling  with  things  that  do 
not  concern  me)  perhaps  I  may  sometimes  talk  poli- 
tics. And  if  I  can  by  any  means  furnish  out  a  weekly 
entertainment  for  the  public  that  will  give  a  rational 
diversion,  and  at  the  same  time  be  instructive  to  the 
readers,  I  shall  think  my  leisure  hours  well  employed ; 
and  if  you  publish  this,  I  hereby  invite  all  ingenious 
gentlemen  and  others  (that  approve  of  such  an  un- 
dertaking) to  my  assistance  and  correspondence. 

It  is  like  by  this  time,  you  have  a  curiosity  to  be 
acquainted  with  my  name  and  character.  As  I  do 
not  aim  at  public  praise,  I  design  to  remain  concealed ; 
and  there  are  such  numbers  of  our  family  and  relations 
at  this  time  in  the  country,  that  though  I  have  signed 
my  name  at  full  length,  I  am  not  under  the  least  ap- 
prehension of  being  distinguished  and  discovered  by 
it.  My  character,  indeed,  I  would  favor  you  with,  but 
that  I  am  cautious  of  praising  myself,  lest  I  should  be 
told  my  trumpeter's  dead;  and  I  cannot  find  in  my 
heart  at  present,  to  say  any  thing  to  my  own  disad- 
vantage. 

It  is  very  common  with  authors,  in  their  first  per- 
formances, to  talk  to  their  readers  thus ;  "  If  this  meets 
with  a  suitable  reception,  or,  if  this  should  meet  with 
due  encouragement,  I  shall  hereafter  publish,  &c." 
This  only  manifests  the  value  they  put  on  their  own 
writings,  since  they  think  to  frighten  the  public  into 
their  applause,  by  threatening,  that,  unless  you  approve 


MISCELLANEOUS.  17 

what  they  have  already  wrote,  they  intend  never  to 
write  again ;  when  perhaps  it  may  not  be  a  pin  matter 
whether  they  ever  do  or  no.  As  I  have  not  observed 
the  critics  to  be  more  favorable  on  this  account,  I  shall 
always  avoid  saying  any  thing  of  the  kind ;  and  con- 
clude with  telling  you,  that,  if  you  send  me  a  bottle  of 
ink  and  a  quire  of  paper  by  the  bearer,  you  may 
depend  on  hearing  further  from,  Sir,  your  most  humble 
servant, 

THE  BUSY-BODY. 


THE  BUSY-BODY.  — No.  II. 

TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY  11,  1728-9. 

All  fools  have  still  an  itching  to  deride, 
And  fain  would  be  upon  the  laughing  side. 

POPE. 

MONSIEUR  de  la  Rochefoucault  tells  us  somewhere 
in  his  Memoirs,  that  the  Prince  of  Conde  delighted 
much  in  ridicule,  and  used  frequently  to  shut  himself 
up  for  half  a  day  together  in  his  chamber,  with  a 
gentleman  that  was  his  favorite,  purposely  to  divert 
himself  with  examining  what  was  the  foible  or  ridicu- 
lous side  of  every  noted  person  in  the  court.  That 
gentleman  said  afterwards  in  some  company,  that  he 
thought  nothing  was  more  ridiculous  in  anybody,  than 
this  same  humor  in  the  Prince;  and  I  am  somewhat 
inclined  to  be  of  this  opinion.  The  general  tendency 
there  is  among  us  to  this  embellishment,  which  I  fear 
has  too  often  grossly  imposed  upon  my  loving  country- 
men instead  of  wit,  and  the  applause  it  meets  with 
from  a  rising  generation,  fill  me  with  fearful  appre- 
hensions for  the  future  reputation  of  my  country.  A 

VOL.    II.  3 


18  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

young  man  of  modesty  (which  is  the  most  certain  in- 
dication of  large  capacities)  is  hereby  discouraged  from 
attempting  to  make  any  figure  in  life;  his  apprehen- 
sions of  being  out-laughed  will  force  him  to  continue 
in  a  restless  obscurity,  without  having  an  opportunity 
of  knowing  his  own  merit  himself  or  discovering  it  to 
the  world,  rather  than  venture  to  oppose  himself  in  a 
place  where  a  pun  or  a  sneer  shall  pass  for  wit,  noise 
for  reason,  and  the  strength  of  the  argument  be  judged 
by  that  of  the  lungs. 

Among  these  witty  gentlemen  let  us  take  a  view  of 
Ridentius.  What  a  contemptible  figure  does  he  make 
with  his  train  of  paltry  admirers !  This  wight  shall 
give  himself  an  hour's  diversion  with  the  cock  of  a 
man's  hat,  the  heels  of  his  shoes,  an  unguarded  ex- 
pression in  his  discourse,  or  even  some  personal  de- 
fect ;  and  the  height  of  his  low  ambition  is  to  put  some 
one  of  the  company  to  the  blush,  who  perhaps  must 
pay  an  equal  share  of  the  reckoning  with  himself. 
If  such  a  fellow  makes  laughing  the  sole  end  and 
purpose  of  his  life,  if  it  is  necessary  to  his  constitu- 
tion, or  if  he  has  a  great  desire  of  growing  suddenly 
fat,  let  him  eat ;  let  him  give  public  notice  where  any 
dull  stupid  rogues  may  get  a  quart  of  four-penny  for 
being  laughed  at;  but  it  is  barbarously  unhandsome, 
when  friends  meet  for  the  benefit  of  conversation  and 
a  proper  relaxation  from  business,  that  one  should  be 
the  butt  of  the  company,  and  four  men  made  merry 
at  the  cost  of  the  fifth. 

How  different  from  this  character  is  that  of  the 
good-natured,  gay  Eugenius,  who  never  spoke  yet  but 
with  a  design  to  divert  and  please,  and  who  was  never 
yet  baulked  in  his  intention.  Eugenius  takes  more  de- 
light in  applying  the  wit  of  his  friends,  than  in  being 
admired  himself;  and  if  any  one  of  the  company  is  so 


MISCELLANEOUS.  19 

unfortunate  as  to  be  touched  a  little  too  nearly,  he 
will  make  use  of  some  ingenious  artifice  to  turn  the 
edge  of  ridicule  another  way,  choosing  rather  to  make 
himself  a  public  jest,  than  be  at  the  pain  of  seeing 
his  friend  in  confusion. 

Among  the  tribe  of  laughers,  I  reckon  the  petty 
gentlemen  that  write  satires,  and  carry  them  about  in 
their  pockets,  reading  them  themselves  in  all  company 
they  happen  into ;  taking  an  advantage  of  the  ill  taste 
of  the  town  to  make  themselves  famous  for  a  pack 
of  paltry,  low  nonsense,  for  which  they  deserve  to  be 
kicked  rather  than  admired,  by  all  who  have  the  least 
tincture  of  politeness.  These  I  take  to  be  the  most 
incorrigible  of  all  my  readers ;  nay,  I  expect  they  will 
be  squibbing  at  the  Busy-Body  himself.  However,  the 
only  favor  he  begs  of  them  is  this,  that  if  they  cannot 
control  their  overbearing  itch  of  scribbling,  let  him  be 
attacked  in  downright  biting  lyrics;  for  there  is  no 
satire  he  dreads  half  so  much  as  an  attempt  towards  a 
panegyric. 


THE   BUSY-BODY.  —  No.IIl. 

TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY  18,  1728-9. 

Non  vultus  instantis  tyranni 

Mente  quatit  solida,  neque  Auster, 
Dux  inquieti  turbidus  Adrise, 
Nee  fulminantis  magna  Jovis  manus. 

HOR. 

IT  is  said  that  the  Persians,  in  their  ancient  consti- 
tution, had  public  schools  in  which  jjrtue  was  taught 
as  a  liberal  art  or  science ;  and  it  is  certainly  of  more 
consequence  to  a  man,  that  he  has  learnt  to  govern 
his  passions  in  spite  of  temptation,  to  be  just  in  his 


20  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

dealings,  to  be  temperate  in  his  pleasures,  to  support 
himself  with  fortitude  under  his  misfortunes,  to  behave 
with  prudence  in  all  his  affairs,  and  in  every  circum- 
stance of  life ;  I  say,  it  is  of  much  more  real  advantage 
to  him  to  be  thus  qualified,  than  to  be  a  master  of 
all  the  arts  and  sciences  in  the  world  beside. 

Virtue  alone  is  sufficient  to  make  a  man  great, 
glorious,  and  happy.  »  He  that  is  acquainted  with 
Cato,  as  I  am,  cannot  help  thinking  as  I  do  now,  and 
will  acknowledge  he  deserves  the  name,  without  being 
honored  by  it.  Cato  is  a  man  whom  fortune  has 
placed  in  the  most  obscure  part  of  the  country.  His 
circumstances  are  such,  as  only  put  him  above  neces- 
sity, without  affording  him  many  superfluities ;  yet  who 
is  greater  than  Cato?  I  happened  but  the  other  day 
to  be  at  a  house  in  town,  where,  among  others,  were 
met  men  of  the  most  note  in  this  place.  Cato  had 
business  with  some  of  them,  and  knocked  at  the  door. 
The  most  trifling  actions  of  a  man,  in  my  opinion,  as 
well  as  the  smallest  features  and  lineaments  of  the  face, 
give  a  nice  observer  some  notion  of  his  mind.  Me- 
thought  he  rapped  in  such  a  peculiar  manner,  as  seem- 
ed of  itself  to  express  there  was  one,  who  deserved  as 
well  as  desired  admission.  He  appeared  in  the  plainest 
country  garb ;  his  great  coat  was  coarse,  and  looked 
old  and  threadbare ;  his  linen  was  homespun ;  his 
beard,  perhaps,  of  seven  days'  growth ;  his  shoes  thick 
and  heavy ;  and  every  part  of  his  dress  corresponding. 
Why  was  this  man  received  with  such  concurring  re- 
spect from  every  person  in  the  room,  even  from  those 
who  had  never  known  him  or  seen  him  before?  It 
was  not  an  exquisite  form  of  person,  or  grandeur  of 
dress,  that  struck  us  with  admiration. 

I  believe  long  habits  of  virtue  have  a  sensible  effect 
on  the  countenance.  There  was  something  in  the  air 


MISCELLANEOUS.  21 

of  his  face,  that  manifested  the  true  greatness  of  his 
mind,  which  likewise  appeared  in  all  he  said,  and  in 
every  part  of  his  behaviour,  obliging  us  to  regard  him 
with  a  kind  of  veneration.  His  aspect  is  sweetened 
with  humanity  and  benevolence,  and  at  the  same  time 
emboldened  with  resolution,  equally  free  from  diffident 
bashfulness  and  an  unbecoming  assurance.  The  con- 
sciousness of  his  own  innate  worth  and  unshaken  in- 
tegrity renders  him  calm  and  undaunted  in  the  pres- 
ence of  the  most  great  and  powerful,  and  upon  the 
most  extraordinary  occasions.  His  strict  justice  and 
known  impartiality  make  him  the  arbitrator  and  decider 
of  all  differences,  that  arise  for  many  miles  around  him, 
without  putting  his  neighbours  to  the  charge,  perplex- 
ity, and  uncertainty  of  law-suits.  He  always  speaks 
the  thing  he  means,  which  he  is  never  afraid  or 
ashamed  to  do,  because  he  knows  he  always  means 
well,  and  therefore  is  never  obliged  to  blush,  and  feel 
the  confusion  of  finding  himself  detected  in  the  mean- 
ness of  a  falsehood.  He  never  contrives  ill  against  his 
neighbours,  and  therefore  is  never  seen  with  a  lowering, 
suspicious  aspect.  A  mixture  of  innocence  and  wis- 
dom makes  him  ever  seriously  cheerful.  His  generous 
hospitality  to  strangers,  according  to  his  ability ;  his 
goodness,  his  charity,  his  courage  in  the  cause  of  the 
oppressed,  his  fidelity  in  friendship,  his  humility,  his 
honesty  and  sincerity,  his  moderation,  and  his  loyalty 
to  the  government ;  his  piety,  his  temperance,  his  love 
to  mankind,  his  magnanimity,  his  public-spiritedness, 
and,  in  fine,  his  consummate  virtue,  make  him  justly 
deserve  to  be  esteemed  the  glory  of  his  country. 

"  The  brave  do  never  shun  the  light ; 

Just  are  their  thoughts,  and  open  are  their  tempers ; 
Freely  without  disguise  they  love  and  hate  ; 
Still  are  they  found  in  the  fair  face  of  day, 
And  Heaven  and  men  are  judges  of  their  actions." 

ROWF. 


22  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

Who  would  not  rather  choose,  if  it  were  in  his 
choice,  to  merit  the  above  character,  than  be  the  rich- 
est, the  most  learned,  or  the  most  powerful  man  in 
the  province  without  it? 

Almost  every  man  has  a  strong  natural  desire  of 
being  valued  and  esteemed  by  the  rest  of  his  species, 
but  I  am  concerned  and  grieved  to  see  how  few  fall 
into  the  right  and  only  infallible  method  of  becoming 
so.  That  laudable  ambition  is  too  commonly  misap- 
plied, and  often  ill  employed.  Some,  to  make  them- 
selves considerable,  pursue  learning;  others  grasp  at 
wealth ;  some  aim  at  being  thought  witty ;  and  others 
are  only  careful  to  make  the  most  of  a  handsome  per- 
son; but  what  is  wit,  or  wealth,  or  form,  or  learning, 
when  compared  with  virtue?  It  is  true,  we  love  the 
handsome,  we  applaud  the  learned,  and  we  fear  the 
rich  and  powerful ;  but  we  even  worship  and  adore  the 
virtuous.  Nor  is  it  strange;  since  men  of  virtue  are 
sp  rare,  so  very  rare  to  be  found.  If  we  were  as  in- 
dustrious to  become  good  as  to  make  ourselves  great, 
we  should  become  really  great  by  being  good,  and 
the  number  of  valuable  men  would  be  much  increased ; 
but  it  is  a  grand  mistake  to  think  of  being  great  with- 
out goodness ;  and  I  pronounce  it  as  certain,  that  there 
was  never  yet  a  truly  great  man,  that  was  not  at  the 
same  time  truly  virtuous. 

O  Cretico!  thou  sour  philosopher!  thou  cunning 
statesman!  thou  art  crafty,  but  far  from  being  wise. 
When  wilt  thou  be  esteemed,  regarded,  and  beloved 
like  Cato?  When  wilt  thou,  among  thy  creatures, 
meet  with  that  unfeigned  respect  and  warm  good -will, 
that  all  good  men  have  for  him?  Wilt  thou  never 
understand,  that  the  cringing,  mean,  submissive  de- 
portment of  thy  dependents,  is  (like  the  worship  paid 
by  Indians  to  the  Devil)  rather  through  fear  of  the 


MISCELLANEOUS.  23 

harm  thou  mayest  do  them,  than  out  of  gratitude  for 
the  favors  they  have  received  of  thee?  Thou  art  not 
wholly  void  of  virtue;  there  are  many  good  things  in 
thee,  and  many  good  actions  reported  of  thee.  Be 
advised  by  thy  friend.  Neglect  those  musty  authors; 
let  them  be  covered  with  dust,  and  moulder  on  their 
proper  shelves ;  and  do  thou  apply  thyself  to  a  study 
much  more  profitable,  the  study  of  mankind  and  thy- 
self. 

This  is  to  give  notice,  that  the  Busy-Body  strictly 
forbids  all  persons,  from  this  time  forward,  of  what  age, 
sex,  rank,  quality,  degree,  or  denomination  soever,  on 
any  pretence,  to  inquire  who  is  the  author  of  this 
paper,  on  pain  of  his  displeasure,  (his  own  near  and 
dear  relations  only  excepted.) 

It  is  to  be  observed,  that  if  any  bad  characters 
happen  to  be  drawn  in  these  papers,  they  mean  no 
particular  person,  if  they  are  not  particularly  applied. 

Likewise,  that  the  author  is  no  party-man,  but  a 
general  meddler. 

N.  B.  Cretico  lives  in  a  neighbouring  province.  V^ 


THE  BUSY-BODY.  — No.  IV. 

TUESDAY,  FEBRUARY  25,  1728-9. 

Ne  quid  nimis.* 

IN  my  first  paper  I  invited  the  learned  and  the  in- 
genious to  join  with  me  in  this  undertaking,  and  1 
now  repeat  that  invitation.  I  would  have  such  gentle- 
men take  this  opportunity  (by  trying  their  talent  in 

Nam  id  arbitror 
Apprime  in  vita  esse  utile,  ut  ne  quid  nimis. 

TERENT. 


24  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

writing)  of  diverting  themselves  and  friends,  and  im- 
proving the  taste  of  the  town.  And  because  I  would 
encourage  all  wit  of  our  own  growth  and  produce,  1 
hereby  promise,  that  whoever  shall  send  me  a  little 
essay  on  some  moral  or  other  subject,  that  is  fit  for 
public  view  in  this  manner,  (and  not  basely  borrowed 
from  any  other  author,)  I  shall  receive  it  with  candor, 
and  take  care  to  place  it  to  the  best  advantage.  It  will 
be  hard  if  we  cannot  muster  up  in  the  whole  country 
a  sufficient  stock  of  sense  to  supply  the  Busy-Body 
at  least  for  a  twelvemonth. 

For  my  own  part,  I  have  already  professed,  that  I 
have  the  good  of  my  country  wholly  at  heart  in  this 
design,  without  the  least  sinister  view;  my  chief  pur- 
pose being  to  inculcate  the  noble  principles  of  virtue, 
and  deprecate  vice  of  every  kind.  But,  as  I  know  the 
rnob  .hate  instruction,  and  the  generality  would  never 
read  beyond  the  first  line  of  my  lectures,  if  they  were 
actually  filled  with  nothing  but  wholesome  precepts 
and  advice,  I  must  therefore  sometimes  humor  them 
in  their  own  way.  There  are  a  set  of  great  names  in 
the  province,  who  are  the  common  objects  of  popular 
dislike.  If  I  can  now  and  then  overcome  my  reluct- 
ance, and  prevail  with  myself  to  satirize  a  little  one  of 
these  gentlemen,  the  expectation  of  meeting  with  such 
a  gratification  will  induce  many  to  read  me  through, 
who  would  otherwise  proceed  immediately  to  the 
foreign  news.  As  I  am  very  well  assured  the  greatest 
men  among  us  have  a  sincere  love  for  their  country, 
notwithstanding  its  ingratitude,  and  the  insinuations  of 
the  envious  and  malicious  to  the  contrary,  so  I  doubt 
not  but  they  will  cheerfully  tolerate  me  in  the  liberty 
I  design  to  take  for  the  end  above  mentioned. 

As  yet  I  have  but  few  correspondents,  though  they 
begin  now  to  increase.  The  following  letter,  left  foi 


MISCELLANEOUS.  25 

me  at  the  printer's,  is  one  of  the  first  I  have  received, 
which  I  regard  the  more  for  that  it  comes  from  one  of 
the  fair  sex,  and  because  I  have  myself  oftentimes 
suffered  under  the  grievance  therein  complained  of. 

"TO    THE    BUSY-BODY. 

"  SIR, 

"  You  having  set  yourself  up  for  a  censuror  morum, 
(as  I  think  you  call  it),  which  is  said  to  mean  a  re- 
former of  manners,  I  know  no  person  more  proper  to 
be  applied  to  for  redress  in  all  the  grievances  we  suffer 
from  want  of  manners  in  some  people.  You  must 
know  I  am  a  single  woman,  and  keep  a  shop  in  this 
town  for  a  livelihood.  There  is  a  certain  neighbour  of 
mine,  who  is  really  agreeable  company  enough,  and 
with  whom  I  have  had  an  intimacy  of  some  time  stand- 
ing ;  but  of  late  she  makes  her  visits  so  exceedingly 
often,  and  stays  so  very  long  every  visit,  that  I  am 
tired  out  of  all  patience.  I  have  no  manner  of  time 
at  all  to  myself;  and  you,  who  seem  to  be  a  wise 
man,  must  needs  be  sensible  that  every  person  has 
little  secrets  and  privacies,  that  are  not  proper  to  be 
exposed  even  to  the  nearest  friend.  Now  I  cannot 
do  the  least  thing  in  the  world,  but  she  must  know 
about  it ;  and  it  is  a  wonder  I  have  found  an  oppor- 
tunity to  write  you  this  letter.  My  misfortune  is,  that 
I  respect  her  very  well,  and  know  not  how  to  disoblige 
her  so  much  as  to  tell  her  I  should  be  glad  to  have 
less  of  her  company ;  for  if  I  should  once  hint  such  a 
thing,  I  am  afraid  she  would  resent  it  so  as  never  to 
darken  my  door  again. 

"  But  alas,  Sir,  I  have  not  yet  told  you  half  my 
affliction.  She  has  two  children,  that  are  just  big 
enough  to  run  about  and  do  pretty  mischief;  these  are 
continually  along  with  mamma,  either  in  my  room  or 


26  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

shop,  if  I  have  ever  so  many  customers  or  people  with 
me  about  business.  Sometimes  they  pull  the  goods 
off  my  low  shelves  down  to  the  ground,  and  perhaps 
where  one  of  them  has  just  been  making  water.  M) 
friend  takes  up  the  stuff,  and  cries,  '  O !  thou  little 
wicked  mischievous  rogue !  But,  however,  it  has  done 
no  great  damage ;  it  is  only  wet  a  little ; '  and  so  puts 
it  upon  the  shelf  again.  Sometimes  they  get  to  my 
cask  of  nails  behind  the  counter,  and  divert  themselves, 
to  my  great  vexation,  with  mixing  my  ten-penny,  and 
eight-penny,  and  four-penny,  together.  I  endeavour 
to  conceal  my  uneasiness  as  much  as  possible,  and 
with  a  grave  look  go  to  sorting  them  out.  She  cries, 
1  Don't  thee  trouble  thyself,  neighbour ;  let  them  play 
a  little ;  I'll  put  all  to  rights  before  I  go.'  But  things 
are  never  so  put  to  rights,  but  that  I  find  a  great  deal 
of  work  to  do  after  they  are  gone.  Thus,  Sir,  I  have 
all  the  trouble  and  pesterment  of  children,  without  the 
pleasure  of  calling  them  my  own ;  and  they  are  now 
so  used  to  being  here,  that  they  will  be  content  no- 
where else.  If  she  would  have  been  so  kind  as  to 
have  moderated  -her  visits  to  ten  times  a  day,  and  stayed 
but  half  an  hour  at  a  time,  I  should  have  been  con- 
tented, and  I  believe  never  have  given  you  this  trou- 
ble. But  this  very  morning  they  have  so  tormented 
me,  that  I  could  bear  no  longer;  for,  while  the  mo- 
ther was  asking  me  twenty  impertinent  questions,  the 
youngest  got  to  my  nails,  and  with  great  delight  rattled 
them  by  handfuls  all  over  the  floor;  and  the  other, 
at  the  same  time,  made  such  a  terrible  din  upon  the 
counter  with  a  hammer,  that  I  grew  half  distracted. 
I  was  just  then  about  to  make  myself  a  new  suit  of 
pinners ;  but  in  the  fret  and  confusion  I  cut  it  quite 
out  of  all  manner  of  shape,  and  utterly  spoiled  a  piece 
of  the  first  muslin. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  27 

"  Pra}',  Sir,  tell  me  what  I  shall  do ;  and  talk  a  little 
against  such  unreasonable  visiting  in  your  next  paper ; 
though  I  would  not  have  her  affronted  with  me  for  a 
great  deal,  for  sincerely  I  love  her  and  her  children, 
as  well,  I  think,  as  a  neighbour  can,  and  she  buys -a 
great  many  things  in  a  year  at  my  shop.  But  I  would 
beg  her  to  consider,  that  she  uses  me  unmercifully, 
though  I  believe  it  is  only  for  want  of  thought.  But 
I  have  twenty  things  more  to  tell  you  besides  all  this. 
There  is  a  handsome  gentleman,  that  has  a  mind  (1 
don't  question)  to  make  love  to  me,  but  he  can't  get 

the  opportunity  to 0  dear !  here  she  comes  again ; 

I  must  conclude,  yours,  &c. 

"  PATIENCE." 

Indeed,  it  is  well  enough,  as  it  happens,  that  she 
is  come  to  shorten  this  complaint,  which  I  think  is  full 
long  enough  already,  and  probably  would  otherwise 
have  been  as  long  again.  However,  I  must  confess, 
I  cannot  help  pitying  my  correspondent's  case;  and, 
in  her  behalf,  exhort  the  visitor  to  remember  and  con- 
sider the  words  of  the  wise  man,  "  Withdraw  thy  foot 
from  the  house  of  thy  neighbour,  lest  he  grow  weary 
of  thee,  and  so  hate  thee."  It  is,  I  believe,  a  nice 
thing,  and  very  difficult,  to  regulate  our  visits  in  such 
a  manner,  as  never  to  give  offence  by  coming  too 
seldom,  or  too  often,  or  departing  too  abruptly,  or  stay- 
ing too  long.  However,  in  my  opinion,  it  is  safest  for 
most  people  in  a  general  way,  who  are  unwilling  to 
disoblige,  to  visit  seldom,  and  tarry  but  a  little  while 
in  a  place,  notwithstanding  pressing  invitations,  which 
are  many  times  insincere.  And  though  more  of  your 
company  should  be  really  desired,  yet  in  this  case,  too, 
much  resen  edness  is  a  fault  more  easily  excused  than 
the  contrary. 


28  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

Men  are  subject  to  various  inconveniences  merely 
through  lack  of  a  small  share  of  courage,  which  is  a 
quality  very  necessary  in  the  common  occurrences  of 
life,  as  well  as  in  a  battle.  How  many  impertinences 
do  we  daily  suffer  with  great  uneasiness,  because  we 
have  not  courage  enough  to  discover  our  dislike  ?  And 
why  may  not  a  man  use  the  boldness  and  freedom  of 
telling  his  friends,  that  their  long  visits  sometimes  in- 
commode him  ?  On  this  occasion,  it  may  be  entertain- 
ing to  some  of  my  readers,  if  I  acquaint  them  with 
the  Turkish  manner  of  entertaining  visiters,  which  I 
have  from  an  author  of  unquestionable  veracity ;  who 
assures  us,  that  even  the  Turks  are  not  so  ignorant 
of  civility  and  the  arts  of  endearment,  but  that  they 
can  practise  them  with  as  much  exactness  as  any  other 
nation,  whenever  they  have  a  mind  to  show  them- 
selves obliging. 

"  When  you  visit  a  person  of  quality,"  says  he, 
"and  have  talked  over  your  business,  or  the  compli- 
ments, or  whatever  concern  brought  you  thither,  he 
makes  a  sign  to  have  things  served  hi  for  the  enter- 
tainment, which  is  generally  a  little  sweetmeat,  a  dish 
of  sherbet,  and  another  of  coffee ;  all  which  are  imme- 
diately brought  in  by  the  servants,  and  tendered  to  all 
the  guests  in  order,  with  the  greatest  care  and  awful- 
ness  imaginable.  At  last  comes  the  finishing  part  of 
your  entertainment,  which  is,  perfuming  the  beards  of 
the  company;  a  ceremony  which  is  performed  in  this 
manner.  They  have  for  the  purpose  a  small  silver 
chafing-dish,  covered  with  a  lid  full  of  holes,  and  fixed 
upon  a  handsome  plate.  In  this  they  put  some  fresh 
coals,  and  upon  them  a  piece  of  lignum  aloes  ;  shutting 
it  up,  the  smoke  immediately  ascends  with  a  grateful 
odor  through  the  holes  of  the  cover.  This  smoke  is 
held  under  every  one's  chin,  and  offered  as  it  were  a 


MISCELLANEOUS.  29 

sacrifice  to  his  beard.  The  bristly  idol  soon  receives 
the  reverence  done  to  it,  and  so  greedily  takes  in  and 
incorporates  the  gummy  steam,  that  it  retains  the  savour 
of  it,  and  may  serve  for  a  nosegay  a  good  while  after. 

"  This  ceremony  may  perhaps  seem  ridiculous  at 
first  hearing,  but  it  passes  among  the  Turks  for  a  high 
gratification.  And  I  will  say  this  in  its  vindication,  that 
its  design  is  very  wise  and  useful.  For  it  is  understood 
to  give  a  civil  dismission  to  the  visitants,  intimating  to 
them  that  the  master  of  the  house  has  business  to  do, 
or  some  other  avocations,  that  permits  them  to  go  away 
as  soon  as  they  please,  and  the  sooner  after  this  cere- 
mony the  better.  By  this  means  you  may,  at  any 
time,  without  offence,  deliver  yourself  from  being  de- 
tained from  your  affairs  by  tedious  and  unseasonable 
visits ;  and  from  being  constrained  to  use  that  piece 
of  hypocrisy,  so  common  in  the  world,  of  pressing  those 
to  stay  longer  with  you,  whom  perhaps  in  your  heart 
you  wish  a  great  way  off  for  having  troubled  you  so 
long  already." 

Thus  far  my  author.  For  my  own  part,  I  have 
taken  such  a  fancy  to  this  Turkish  custom,  that  for  the 
future  I  shall  put  something  like  it  in  practice.  I  have 
provided  a  bottle  of  right  French  brandy  for  the  men, 
and  citron -water  for  the  ladies.  After  I  have  treated 
with  a  dram,  and  presented  a  pinch  of  my  best  snuff, 
1  expect  all  company  will  retire,  and  leave  me  to  pur- 
sue my  studies  for  the  good  of  the  public. 

ADVERTISEMENT. 

I  give  notice,  that  I  am  now  actually  compiling,  and 
design  to  publish  in  a  short  time,  the  true  history  of 
the  rise,  growth,  and  progress  of  the  renowned  Tiff 
Club.  All  persons  who  are  acquainted  with  any  facts, 
circumstances,  characters,  transactions,  &,c.  which  will 


30  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

be  requisite  to  the  perfecting  and  embellishment  of  the 
said  work,  are  desired  to  communicate  the  same  to 
the  author,  and  direct  their  letters  to  be  left  with  the 
printer  hereof. 

The  letter,  signed  "  Would-be-something"  is  come  to 
hand. 


THE  BUSY-BODY.  — No.  V. 

TUESDAY,  MARCH  4,  1728-9. 

Vos,  o  patricius  sanguis,  quos  vivere  fas  est 
Occipiti  caeco,  posticae  occurrite  sannae. 

PERSIUS. 

THIS  paper  being  designed  for  a  terror  to  evil-doers, 
as  well  as  praise  to  them  that  do  well,  I  am  lifted  up 
with  secret  joy  to  find,  that  my  undertaking  is  ap- 
proved, and  encouraged  by  the  just  and  good,  and 
that  few  are  against  me  but  those,  who  have  reason 
to  fear  me. 

There  are  little  follies  in  the  behaviour  of  most  men, 
which  their  best  friends  are  too  tender  to  acquaint  them 
with ;  there  are  little  vices  and  small  crimes,  which 
the  law  has  no  regard  to  or  remedy  for ;  there  are 
likewise  great  pieces  of  villany  sometimes'  so  craftily 
accomplished,  and  so  circumspectly  guarded,  that  the 
law  can  take  no  hold  of  the  actors.  All  these  things, 
and  all  things  of  this  nature,  come  within  my  province 
as  Censor ;  and  I  am  determined  not  to  be  negligent  of 
the  trust  I  have  reposed  in  myself,  but  resolve  to  exe- 
cute my  office  diligently  and  faithfully. 

And  that  all  the  world  may  judge  with  how  much 
humanity,  as  well  as  justice,  I  shall  behave  in  this 
office;  and  that  even  my  enemies  may  be  convinced 
I  take  no  delight  to  rake  into  the  dunghill  lives  of 


MISCELLANEOUS.  31 

vicious  men ;  and  to  the  end  that  certain  persons  ma^ 
be  a  little  eased  of  their  fears,  and  relieved  from  the 
terrible  palpitations  they  have  lately  felt  and  suffered) 
and  do  still  suffer;  I  hereby  graciously  pass  an  act 
of  general  oblivion,  for  all  offences,  crimes,  and  mis- 
demeanors  of  what  kind  soever,  committed  from  the 
beginning  of  the  year  1681,  until  the  day  of  the  date 
of  my  first  paper,  and  promise  only  to  concern  my- 
self with  such  as  have  been  since  and  shall  hereafter 
be  committed.  I  shall  take  no  notice  who  has  (here- 
tofore) raised  a  fortune  by  fraud  and  oppression,  nor 
who  by  deceit  and  hypocrisy;  what  woman  has  been 
false  to  her  good  husband's  bed,  nor  what  man  has, 
by  barbarous  usage  or  neglect,  broken  the  heart  of  a 
faithful  wife,  and  wasted  his  health  and  substance  in 
debauchery ;  what  base  wretch  has  betrayed  his  friend, 
and  sold  his  honesty  for  gold,  nor  what  baser  wretch 
first  corrupted  him,  and  then  bought  the  bargain ;  all 
this,  and  much  more  of  the  same  kind,  I  shall  forget, 
and  pass  over  in  silence;  but  then.it  is  to  be  observed, 
that  I  expect  and  require  a  sudden  and  general  amend- 
ment. 

These  threatenings  of  mine  I  hope  will  have  a  good 
effect,  and,  if  regarded,  may  prevent  abundance  of  folly 
and  wickedness  in  others,  and,  at  the  same  time,  save 
me  abundance  of  trouble ;  and,  that  people  may  not 
flatter  themselves  with  the  hopes  of  concealing  their 
loose  misdemeanors  from  my  knowledge,  and  in  that 
view  persist  in  evil-doing,  I  must  acquaint  them,  that 
I  have  lately  entered  into  an  intimacy  with  the  extra- 
ordinary person,  who  some  time  since  wrote  me  the 
following  letter ;  and  who,  having  a  wonderful  faculty, 
that  enables  him  to  discover  the  most  secret  iniquity, 
is  capable  of  giving  me  great  assistance  in  my  designed 
work  of  reformation. 


32  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

"MR.  BUSY-BODY, 

"I  rejoice,  Sir,  at  the  opportunity  you  have  given 
me  to  be  serviceable  to  you,  and,  by  your  means,  to 
this  province.  You  must  know,  that  such  have  been 
the  circumstances  of  my  life,  and  such  were  the  mar- 
vellous concurrences  of  my  birth,  that  I  have  not  only 
a  faculty  of  discovering  the  actions  of  persons,  that  are 
absent  or  asleep,  Jbut  even  of  the  devil  himself,  in  many 
of  his  secret  workings,  in  the  various  shapes,  habits, 
and  names  of  men  and  women ;  and,  having  travelled 
and  conversed  much,  and  met  but  with  a  very  few  of 
the  same  perceptions  and  qualifications,  I  can  recom- 
mend myself  to  you  as  the  most  useful  man  you  can 
correspond  with.  My  father's  father's  father  (for  we 
had  no  grandfathers  in  our  family)  was  the  same 
John  Bunyan,  that  writ  that  memorable  book,  T/ic 
Pilgrim's  Progress,  who  had,  in  some  degree,  a  natu- 
ral faculty  of  second  sight.  This  faculty  (how  derived 
to  him  our  family  memoirs  are  not  very  clear)  was 
enjoyed  by  all  his  descendants,  but  not  by  equal  tal- 
ents. It  was  very  dim  in  several  of  my  first  cousins,' 
and  probably  had  been  nearly  extinct  in  our  particular 
branch,  had  not  my  father  been  a  traveller.  He  lived, 
in  his  youthful  days,  in  New  England.  There  he 
married,  and  there  was  born  my  elder  brother,  who 
had  so  much  of  this  faculty,  as  to  discover  witches  in 
some  of  their  occult  performances. 

"  My  parents  transporting  themselves  to  Great  Brit- 
ain, my  second  brother's  birth  was  in  that  kingdom. 
He  shared  but  a  small  portion  of  this  virtue,  being 
only  able  to  discern  transactions  about  the  time  of,  and 
for  the  most  part  after,  their  happening.  My  good 
father,  who  delighted  in  The  Pilgrim's  Progress,  and 
mountainous  places,  took  shipping,  with  his  wife,  for 
Scotland,  and  inhabited  in  the  Highlands,  where  myself 


MISCELLANEOUS.  33 

was  born ;  and  whether  the  soil,  climate,  or  astral 
influences,  of  which  are  preserved  divers  prognostics, 
restored  our  ancestor's  natural  faculty  of  second  sight, 
in  a  greater  lustre  to  me,  than  it  had  shined  in  through 
several  generations,  I  will  not  here  discuss.  But  so  it 
is,  that  I  am  possessed  largely  of  it,  and  design,  if  you 
encourage  the  proposal,  to  take  this  opportunity  of 
doing  good  with  it,  which  I  question  not  will  be  ac- 
cepted of  in  a  grateful  way  by  many  of  your  honest 
readers,  though  the  discovery  of  my  extraction  bodes 
me  no  deference  from  your  great  scholars  and  modern 
philosophers.  This  my  father  was  long  ago  aware  of; 
and,  lest  the  name  alone  should  hurt  the  fortunes  of 
his  children,  he,  in  his  shiftings  from  one  country  to  l 
another,  wisely  changed  it. 

"  Sir,  I  have  only  this  further  to  say,  how  I  may  be 
useful  to  you,  and  as  a  reason  for  my  not  making  my- 
self more  known  in  the  world.  By  virtue  of  this  great 
gift  of  nature,  second-sightedness,  I  do  continually  see 
numbers  of  men,  women,  and  children,  of  all  ranks, 
and  what  they  are  doing,  while  I  am  sitting  in  my 
closet ;  which  is  too  great  a  burden  for  the  mind,  and 
makes  me  also  conceit,  even  against  reason,  that  all 
this  host  of  people  can  see  and  observe  me,  which 
strongly  inclines  me  to  solitude,  and  an  obscure  living  ; 
and,  on  the  other  hand,  it  will  be  an  ease  to  me  to 
disburthen  my  thoughts  and  observations  in  the  way 
oroposed  to  you  by,  Sir,  your  friend  and  humble 
servant." 

I  conceal  this  correspondent's  name,  in  my  care  for 
his  life  and  safety,  and  cannot  but  approve  his  pru- 
dence in  choosing  to  live  obscurely.  I  remember  the 
fate  of  my  poor  monkey.  He  had  an  ill-natured  trick 
of  grinning  and  chattering  at  every  thing  he  saw  in 
petticoats.  My  ignorant  country  neighbours  got  a 

VOL.    II.  3 


34  FB  ANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

notion,  that  pug  snarled  by  instinct  at  every  female  who 
had  lost  her  virginity.  This  was  no  sooner  generally 
believed,  than  he  was  condemned  to  death ;  by  whom, 
I  could  never  learn,  but  he  was  assassinated  in  the 
night,  barbarously  stabbed  and  mangled  in  a  thousand 
places,  and  left  hanging  dead  on  one  of  my  gate-posts, 
where  I  found  him  the  next  morning. 

The  Censor  observing,  that  the  itch  of  scribbling 
begins  to  spread  exceedingly,  and  being  carefully  ten- 
der of  the  reputation  of  his  country  in  point  of  wit 
and  good  sense,  has  determined  to  take  all  manner  of 
writing,  in  verse  or  prose,  that  pretend  to  either,  under 
his  immediate  cognizance ;  and  accordingly  hereby 
prohibits  the  publishing  any  such  for  the  future,  till 
they  have  first  passed  his  examination,  and  received 
his  imprimatur ;  for  which  he  demands  as  a  fee  only 
sixpence  per  sheet. 

Q^.  B.  He    nevertheless  permits  to  be  published  all 
rical  remarks  on  the  Busy-Body,  the  above  prohi- 
-   bition    notwithstanding,    and    without   examination,    or 
requiring    the    said  fees;   which  indulgence  the  small 
1    wits  in  and  about  this  city  are  advised  gratefully  to 
Vaccept  and  acknowledge. 

The  gentleman,  who  calls  himself  Sirronio,  is  di- 
rected, on  receipt  of  this,  to  burn  his  great  book  of 
Crudities. 

P.  S.  In  compassion  to  that  young  man,  on  account 
of  the  great  pains  he  has  taken,  in  consideration  of 
the  character  I  have  just  received  of  him,  that  he  is 
really  good-natured,  and  on  condition  he  shows  it  to 
no  foreigner  or  stranger  of  sense,  I  have  thought  fit 
to  reprieve  his  said  great  book  of  Cniditics  from  the 
flames,  till  further  order. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  35 

Noli  me  tangere. 

I  HAD  resolved,  when  I  first  commenced  this  design, 
on  no  account  to  enter  into  a  public  dispute  with  any 
man ;  for  I  judged  it  would  be  equally  unpleasant  to 
me  and  my  readers,  to  see  this  paper  filled  with  con- 
tentious wrangling,  answers,  replies,  &c. ;  which  is  a 
way  of  writing  that  is  endless,  and,  at  the  same  time, 
seldom  contains  any  thing  that  is  either  edifying  or 
entertaining.  Yet,  when  such  a  considerable  man  as 

Mr. finds  himself  concerned  so  warmly  to  accuse 

and  condemn  me,  as  he  has  done  in  Keimer's  last 
Instructor,  I  cannot  forbear  endeavouring  to  say  some- 
thing in  my  own  defence,  from  one  of  the  worst  of 
characters  that  could  be  given  me  by  a  man  of  worth. 
But  as  I  have  many  things  of  more  consequence  to 
offer  the  public,  I  declare,  that  I  will  never,  after  this 
time,  take  notice  of  any  accusations,  not  better  sup- 
ported with  truth  and  reason ;  much  less  may  every 
little  scribbler,  that  shall  attack  me,  expect  an  answer 
from  the  Busy-Body. 

The  sum  of  the  charge  delivered  against  me,  either 
directly  or  indirectly,  in  the  said  paper,  is  this.  Not  to 
mention  the  first  weighty  sentence  concerning  vanity 
and  ill-nature,  and  the  shrewd  intimation,  that  I  am  with- 
out charity,  and  therefore  can  have  no  pretence  to  reli- 
gion, I  am  represented  as  guilty  of  defamation  and  scan- 
dal, the  odiousness  of  which  is  apparent  to  every  good 
man,  and  the  practice  of  it  opposite  to  Christianity,  mo- 
rality, and  common  justice,  and,  in  some  cases,  so  far 
below  all  these,  as  to  be  inhuman ;  as  a  blaster  of  repu- 
tations ;  as  attempting,  by  a  pretence,  to  screen  myself 
from  the  imputation  of  malice  and  prejudice ;  as  using 
a  weapon,  which  the  wiser  and  better  part  of  mankind 
hold  in  abhorrence ;  and  as  giving  treatment,  which 


36  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

the  wiser  and  better  part  of  mankind  dislike  on  the 
same  principles,  and  for  the  same  reason,  as  they  do 
assassination,  &,c. ;  and  all  this  is  inferred  and  con- 
cluded from  a  character  I  have  wrote  in  my  Num- 
ber III. 

In  order  to  examine  the  justice  and  truth  of  this 
heavy  charge,  let  us  recur  to  that  character.  And  here 
we  may  be  surprised  to  find  what  a  trifle  has  raised 
this  mighty  clamor  and  complaint,  this  grievous  accu- 
sation !  The  worst  thing  said  of  the  person,  in  what 
is  called  my  gross  description  (be  he  who  he  will  to 
whom  my  accuser  has  applied  the  character  of  Cretico), 
is,  that  he  is  a  sour  philosopher,  crafty,  but  not  wise. 
Few  human  characters  can  be  drawn,  that  will  not  fit 
somebody,  in  so  large  a  country  as  this ;  but  one  would 
think,  supposing  I  meant  Cretico  a  real  person,  I  had 
sufficiently  manifested  my  impartiality,  when  I  said,  in 
that  very  paragraph,  that  Cretico  is  not  without  virtue ; 
that  there  are  many  good  things  in  him,  and  many 
good  actions  reported  of  him ;  which  must  be  allowed, 
in  all  reason,  very  much  to  overbalance  in  his  favor 
those  worst  words,  sour-tempered  and  cunning.  Nay, 
my  very  enemy  and  accuser  must  have  been  sensible 
of  this,  when  he  freely  acknowledges,  that  he  has  been 
seriously  considering,  and  cannot  yet  determine,  which 
he  would  choose  to  be,  the  Cato  or  Cretico  of  that 
paper ;  since  my  Cato  is  one  of  the  best  of  characters. 
Thus  much  in  my  own  vindication. 

As  to  the  only  reasons  there  given,  why  I  ought 
not  to  continue  drawing  characters,  viz.  Why  should 
any  man's  picture  be  published,  which  he  never  sat 
for ;  or  his  good  name  taken  from  him,  any  more  than 
his  money  or  possessions,  at  the  arbitrary  will  of 
another,  &c.  ?  I  have  but  this  to  answer.  The  money 
or  possessions,  1  presume,  are  nothing  to  the  purpose, 


MISCELLANEOUS.  37 

since  no  man  can  claim  a  right  either  to  those  or  a 
good  name,  if  he  has  acted  so  as  to  forfeit  them.  And 
are  not  the  public  the  only  judges  what  share  of  rep- 
utation they  think  proper  to  allow  any  man  ?  Sup- 
posing I  was  capable,  and  had  an  inclination  to  draw 
all  the  good  and  bad  characters  in  America,  why 
should  a  good  man  be  offended  with  me  for  drawing 
good  characters  ?  And  if  I  draw  ill  ones,  can  they  fit 
any  but  those  that  deserve  them?  And  ought  any 
but  such  to  be  concerned  that  they  have  their  deserts  ? 
I  have  as  great  an  aversion  and  abhorrence  for  defa- 
mation and  scandal  as  any  man,  and  would  with  the 
utmost  care  avoid  being  guilty  of  such  base  things ; 
besides,  I  am  very  sensible  and  certain,  that  if  I  should 
make  use  of  this  paper  to  defame  any  person,  my 
reputation  would  be  sooner  hurt  by  it  than  his,  and 
the  Busy-Body  would  quickly  become  detestable ;  be- 
cause, in  such  a  case,  as  is  justly  observed,  the  pleas- 
ure arising  from  a  tale  of  wit  and  novelty  soon  dies 
away  in  generous  and  honest  minds,  and  is  followed 
with  a  secret  grief  to  see  their  neighbours  calum- 
niated. 

But  if  I  myself  was  actually  the  worst  man  in  the 
province,  and  any  one  should  draw  my  true  character, 
would  it  not  be  ridiculous  in  me  to  say  he  had  defamed 
and  scandalized  me,  unless  he  had  added  in  a  matter 
of  truth  ?  If  any  thing  is  meant  by  asking,  why  any 
man's  picture  should  be  published,  which  he  never  sat 
for,  it  must  be,  that  we  should  give  no  character  with- 
out the  owner's  consent.  If  I  discern  the  wolf  dis- 
guised in  harmless  wool,  and  contriving  the  destruction 
of  my  neighbour's  sheep,  must  I  have  his  permission 
before  I  am  allowed  to  discover  and  prevent  him  ?  If 
I  know  a  man  to  be  a  designing  knave,  must  I  ask  his 
consent  to  bid  my  friends  beware  of  him  ?  If  so,  then, 


38  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

by  the  same  rule,  supposing  the  Busy-Body  had  really 
merited  all  his  enemy  had  charged  him  with,  his  con- 
sent likewise  ought  to  have  been  obtained  before  so 
terrible  an  accusation  was  published  against  him. 

I  shall  conclude  with  observing,  that  in  the  last 
paragraph  save  one  of  the  piece  now  examined,  much 
ill-nature  and  some  good  sense  are  co-inhabitants  (as 
he  expresses  it).  The  ill-nature  appears  in  his  endeav- 
ouring to  discover  satire  where  I  intended  no  such 
thing,  but  quite  the  reverse ;  the  good  sense  is  this, 
that  drawing  too  good  a  character  of  any  one  is  a  re- 
fined manner  of  satire,  that  may  be  as  injurious  to  him 
as  the  contrary,  by  bringing  on  an  examination  that 
undresses  the  person,  and,  in  the  haste  of  doing  it,  he 
may  happen  to  be  stript  of  what  he  really  owns  and 
deserves.  As  I  am  Censor,  I  might  punish  the  first, 
but  I  forgive  it.  Yet  I  will  not  leave  the  latter  un- 
rewarded ;  but  assure  my  adversary,  that  in  considera- 
tion of  the  merit  of  those  four  lines,  I  am  resolved  to 
forbear  injuring  him  on  any  account  in  that  refined 
manner. 

I  thank  my  neighbour  P W for  his  kind 

letter. 

The  lions  complained  of  shall  be  muzzled. 


THE  BUSY-BODY.— No.  VIIT 

TUESDAY,  MARCH  27,  1729. 

Quid  non  mortalia  pectora  cogis, 
Auri  sacra  fames  ? 

VIRGIL. 

ONE  of  the  greatest  pleasures  an   author  can  have, 
is  certainly    the    hearing    his   works  applauded.     The 


MISCELLANEOUS.  39 

hiding  from  the  world  our  names,  while  we  publish 
our  thoughts,  is  so  absolutely  necessary  to  this  self- 
gratification,  that  I  hope  my  well-wishers  will  congrat- 
ulate me  on  my  escape  from  the  many  diligent  but 
fruitless  inquiries,  that  have  of  late  been  made  after 
me.  Every  man  will  own,  that  an  author,  as  such, 
ought  to  be  tried  by  the  merit  of  his  productions  only  ; 
but  pride,  party,  and  prejudice  at  this  time  run  so 
very  high,  that  experience  shows  we  form  our  notions 
of  a  piece  by  the  character  of  the  author.  Nay,  there 
are  some  very  humble  politicians  in  and  about  this  city, 
who  will  ask  on  which  side  the  writer  is,  before  they 
presume  to  give  their  opinion  of  the  thing  wrote.  This 
ungenerous  way  of  proceeding  I  was  well  aware  of 
before  I  published  my  first  speculation,  and  therefore 
concealed  my  name.  And  I  appeal  to  the  more  gen- 
erous part  of  the  world,  if  I  have,  since  I  appeared  in 
the  character  of  the  Busy-Body,  given  an  instance  of 
my  siding  with  any  party  more  than  another,  in  the 
unhappy  divisions  of  my  country ;  and  I  have,  above 
all,  this  satisfaction  in  myself,  that  neither  affection, 
aversion,  nor  interest  has  biassed  me  to  use  any  par- 
tiality towards  any  man,  or  set  of  men ;  but  whatso- 
ever I  find  nonsensical,  ridiculous,  or  immorally  dis- 
honest, I  have,  and  shall  continue  openly  to  attack, 
with  the  freedom  of  an  honest  man  and  a  lover  of 
my  country. 

I  profess  I  can  hardly  contain  myself,  or  preserve 
the  gravity  and  dignity,  that  should  attend  the  cen- 
sorial office,  when  I  hear  the  odd  and  unaccountable 
expositions,  that  are  put  upon  some  of  my  works, 
through  the  malicious  ignorance  of  some,  and  the  vain 
pride  of  more  than  ordinary  penetration  in  others ;  one 
instance  of  which  many  of  my  readers  are  acquainted 
with.  A  certain  gentleman  has  taken  a  great  deal  ol 


40  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

pains  to  write  a  key  to  the  letter  in  my  Number  IV., 
wherein  he  has  ingeniously  converted  a  gentle  satire 
upon  tedious  and  impertinent  visitants,  into  a  libel  on 
some  of  the  government.  This  I  mention  only  as  a 
specimen  of  the  taste  of  the  gentleman  I  am,  forsooth, 
bound  to  please  in  my  speculations ;  not  that  I  sup- 
pose my  impartiality  will  ever  be  called  in  question 
on  that  account.  Injustices  of  this  nature  I  could  com- 
plain of  in  many  instances ;  but  I  am  at  present  di- 
verted by  the  reception  of  a  letter,  which,  though  it 
regards  me  only  in  my  private  capacity  as  an  adept, 
yet  I  venture  to  publish  it  for  the  entertainment  of 
my  readers. 

To  Censor  Morum,  Esq.,  Busy-Body  General  of  the 
Province  of  Pennsylvania,  and  the  Counties  of  New- 
castle, Kent,  and  Sussex  upon  Delaware. 

"HONORABLE  SIR, 

"I  judge  by  your  lucubrations,  that  you  are  not 
only  a  lover  of  truth  and  equity,  but  a  man  of  parts 
and  learning  and  a  master  of  science ;  as  such  I  honor 
you.  Know,  then,  most  profound  Sir,  that  I  have, 
from  my  youth  up,  been  a  very  indefatigable  student 
in  and  admirer  of  that  divine  science,  astrology.  I 
have  read  over  Scot,  Albertus  Magnus,  and  Cornelius 
Agrippa,  above  three  hundred  times ;  and  was  in 
hopes,  by  my  knowledge  and  industry,  to  gain  enough 
to  have  recompensed  me  for  my  money  expended  and 
time  lost  in  the  pursuit  of  this  learning.  You  cannot 
be  ignorant,  Sir,  (for  your  intimate  second-sighted 
correspondent  knows  all  things)  that  there  are  large 
sums  of  money  hidden  under  ground  in  divers  places 
about  this  town,  and  in  many  parts  of  the  co'intry ; 
but,  alas,  Sir,  notwithstanding  I  have  used  all  the 


MISCELLANEOUS.  41 

means  laid  down  in  the  immortal  authors  before 
mentioned,  and  when  they  failed,  the  ingenious  Mr. 
P — d — 1,  with  his  mercurial  wand  and  magnet,  I  have 
still  failed  in  my  purpose.  This  therefore  I  send,  to 
propose  and  desire  an  acquaintance  with  you ;  and  I 
do  not  doubt,  notwithstanding  my  repeated  ill  fortune, 
but  we  may  be  exceedingly  serviceable  to  each  other 
in  our  discoveries ;  and  that  if  we  use  our  united  en- 
deavours, the  time  will  come  when  the  Busy-Body, 
his  second-sighted  correspondent,  and  your  very  hum- 
ble servant,  will  be  three  of  the  richest  men  in  the 
province.  And  then,  Sir,  what  may  we  not  do?  A 
word  to  the  wise  is  sufficient.  I  conclude,  with  all 
demonstrable  respect,  yours  and  Urania's  votary, 

" TITAN  PLEIADES."* 


*  Titan  Pleiades  was  not  the  only  man  in  the  colonies,  who  had  faith 
in  the  virtues  of  the  Divining  Rod.  The  following  extract  will  show  that 
there  were  persons  of  intelligence  and  high  official  rank,  who  could  solve 
their  doubts  only  by  assenting  to  its  marvellous  properties.  The  passage 
is  taken  from  a  manuscript  letter,  written  by  Mr.  Peter  Oliver,  (for  many 
years  Chief  Justice  of  Massachusetts,)  to  the  Reverend  Jared  Eliot,  of 
Killingworth  in  Connecticut,  a  man  much  devoted  to  philosophical  stud- 
ies, and  an  intimate  friend  and  correspondent  of  Dr.  Franklin. 

"  For  the  present  I  desist  from  experiments  in  natural  philosophy,"  said 
Chief  Justice  Oliver,  "  and  perhaps  shall  not  displease  you  by  relating  an 
experiment  in  what  I  call  Preternatural  Philosophy.  It  is  by  Avhat  is 
called  the  Virgula  Divinatoria,  long  since  exploded.  Two  or  three  pei- 
sons  have  lately  been  found  in  Middleborough,  and,  I  suppose,  may  be 
found  elsewhere,  who,  by  holding  a  twig  of  a  tree  (with  some  prepared 
matters  in  it)  in  their  hands,  can  find  copper,  silver,  or  gold,  either  in  the 
mine  or  in  substance.  When  I  first  heard  the  fact  I  disbelieved  it,  as 
ooubtless  you  will  take  the  same  liberty  on  my  relating  it ;  but  at  last  I 
was  induced  to  make  the  experiment  critically,  which  exceeded  what 
I  had  heard.  The  person  holds  the  twig  by  its  two  branches  in  both 
hands,  and  grasps  them  close,  with  the  upper  part  erect  If  any  metal  or 
mine  is  nigh,  its  fibres,  though  never  so  fast  held  in  the  hand,  will  twist 
till  it  points  to  the  object ;  and  if  the  metal  or  mine  is  under,  it  will  twist 
to  a  psrpendicular  situation.  I  have  seen  it  point  to  a  single  dollar  under 
ground,  at  sixty  or  seventy  feet  distance  ;  and  to  a  quantity  of  silver  at  a 
mile  distance  ;  and,  what  is  more  remarkable,  when  it  is  in  motion  to  its 


42  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

In  he  evening,  after  I  had  received  this  letter,  I 
made  a  visit  to  my  second-sighted  friend,  and  com- 
municated to  him  the  proposal.  When  he  had  read 
it,  he  assured  me,  that,  to  his  certain  knowledge,  there 
is  not  at  this  time  so  much  as  one  ounce  of  silver  or 
gold  hid  under  ground  in  any  part  of  this  province ;  for 
that  the  late  and  present  scarcity  of  money  had  obliged 
those,  who  were  living,  and  knew  where  they  had 
formerly  hid  any,  to  take  it  up,  and  use  it  in  their  own 
necessary  affairs ;  and  as  to  all  the  rest,  which  was 
buried  by  pirates  and  others  in  old  times,  who  were 
never  like  to  come  for  it,  he  himself  had  dug  it  all 
up  and  applied  it  to  charitable  uses ;  and  this  he  de- 
sired me  to  publish  for  the  general  good.  For,  as  he 
acquainted  me,  there  are  among  us  great  numbers  of 
honest  artificers  and  laboring  people,  who,  fed  with  a 
vain  hope  of  growing  suddenly  rich,  neglect  their  busi- 
ness, almost  to  the  ruining  of  themselves  and  families, 
and  voluntarily  endure  abundance  of  fatigue  in  a  fruit- 
less search  after  imaginary  hidden  treasure.  They 
wander  through  the  woods  and  bushes  by  day,  to  dis- 
cover the  marks  and  signs ;  at  midnight  they  repair  to 
the  hopeful  spots  with  spades  and  pickaxes ;  full  of 
expectation,  they  labor  violently,  trembling  at  the  same 
time  in  every  joint,  through  fear  of  certain  malicious 
demons,  who  are  said  to  haunt  and  guard  such  places. 
At  length  a  mighty  hole  is  dug,  and  perhaps  several 
cart-loads  of  earth  thrown  out ;  but,  alas,  no  keg  or 
iron  pot  is  found  !  No  seaman's  chest  crammed  with 

object,  upon  the  person's  closing  his  eyes,  it  will  make  a  full  stop,  but,  if  the 
eyes  are  turned  from  the  twig  and  open,  it  will  continue  its  motion.  It  is 
owing  to  what  I  call  the  idiosyncracy  of  the  person's  body,  who  holds  the 
twig,  for  I  believe  there  is  not  one  in  five  hundred  in  whose  hands  it  will 
move.  I  am  apt  to  think  it  will  occasion  as  much  speculation  as  elec- 
tricity, and  I  believe  will  tend  to  public  benefit."  —  Middleborough,  March 
31st,  1756.  — EDITOR. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  43 

Spanish  pistoles,  or  weighty  pieces  of  eight!  Then 
they  conclude,  that,  through  some  mistake  in  the  pro- 
cedure, some  rash  word  spoke,  or  some  rule  of  art 
neglected,  the  guardian  spirit  had  power  to  sink  it 
deeper  into  the  earth,  and  convey  it  out  of  their  reach. 
Yet,  when  a  man  is  once  thus  infatuated,  he  is  so  far 
from  being  discouraged  by  ill  success,  that  he  is  rather 
animated  to  double  his  industry,  and  will  try  again  and 
again  in  a  hundred  different  places,  in  hopes  at  last 
of  meeting  with  some  lucky  hit,  that  shall  at  once 
sufficiently  reward  him  for  all  his  expense  of  time  and 
labor. 

This  odd  humor  of  digging  for  money,  through  a 
belief  that  much  has  been  hid  by  pirates  formerly 
frequenting  the  river,  has  for  several  years  been  mighty 
prevalent  among  us ;  insomuch  that  you  can  hardly 
walk  half  a  mile  out  of  the  town  on  any  side,  with- 
out observing  several  pits  dug  with  that  design,  and 
perhaps  some  lately  opened.  Men,  otherwise  of  very 
good  sense,  have  been  drawn  into  this  practice  through 
an  overweening  desire  of  sudden  wealth,  and  an  easy 
credulity  of  what  they  so  earnestly  wished  might  be 
true;  wjyle.  the  rational  and  almost  certain  methods 
of  acquiring  riches  by  industry  and  frugality  are  neg- 
lected or  forgotten.  There  seems  to  be  some  peculiar 
charm  in  the  conceit  of  finding  money ;  and  if  the 
sands  of  Schuylkill  were  so  much  mixed  with  small 
grains  of  gold,  that  a  man  might  in  a  day's  time,  with 
care  and  application,  get  together  to  the  value  of  half  a 
crown,  I  make  no  question  but  we  should  find  several 
people  employed  there,  that  can  with  ease  earn  five 
shillings  a  day  at  their  proper  trades. 

Many  are  the  idle  stories  told  of  the  private  success 
of  some  people,  by  which  others  are  encouraged  to 
proceed ;  and  the  astrologers,  with  whom  the  country 


44  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

swarms  at  this  time,  are  either  in  the  belief  of  these 
things  themselves,  or  find  their  advantage  in  persuading 
others  to  believe  them ;  for  they  are  often  consulted 
about  the  critical  times  for  digging,  the  methods  of 
laying  the  spirit,  and  the  like  whimseys,  which  renders 
them  very  necessary  to,  and  very  much  caressed  by, 
the  poor  deluded  money-hunters. 

There  is  certainly  something  very  bewitching  in  the 
pursuit  after  mines  of  gold  and  silver  and  other  valu- 
able metals,  and  many  have  been  ruined  by  it.  A  sea- 
captain  of  my  acquaintance  used  to  blame  the  English 
for  envying  Spain  their  mines  of  silver,  and  too  much 
despising  or  overlooking  the  advantages  of  their  own 
industry  and  manufactures.  "  For  my  part,"  says  he, 
"  I  esteem  the  Banks  of  Newfoundland  to  be  a  more 
valuable  possession  than  the  mountains  of  Potosi ;  and, 
when  I  have  been  there  on  the  fishing  account,  have 
looked  upon  every  cod  pulled  up  into  the  vessel  as  a 
certain  quantity  of  silver  ore,  which  required  only  carry- 
ing to  the  next  Spanish  port  to  be  coined  into  pieces 
of  eight ;  not  to  mention  the  national  profit  of  fitting 
out  and  employing  such  a  number  of  ships  and  sea- 
men." 

Let  honest  Peter  Buckram,  who  has  long  without 
success  been  a  searcher  after  hidden  money,  reflect 
on  this,  and  be  reclaimed  from  that  unaccountable  folly. 
Let  him  consider,  that  every  stitch  he  takes,  when  he 
is  on  his  shopboard,  is  picking  up  part  of  a  grain  of 
gold,  that  will  in  a  few  days'  time  amount  to  a  pistole ; 
and  let  Faber  think  tjie  same  of  every  nail  he  drives, 
or  every  stroke  with  his  plane.  Such  thoughts  may 
make  them  industrious,  and,  in  consequence,  in  time 
they  may  be  wealthy.  But  how  absurd  is  it  to  neglect 
a  certain  profit  for  such  a  ridiculous  whimsey ;  to  spend 
whole  days  at  the  George,  in  company  with  an  idle 


MISCELLANEOUS.  45 

pretender  to  astrology,  contriving  schemes  to  discover 
what  was  never  hidden,  and  forgetful  how  carelessly 
business  is  managed  at  home  in  their  absence ;  to  leave 
their  wives  and  a  warm  bed  at  midnight  (no  matter 
if  it  rain,  hail,  snow,  or  blow  a  hurricane,  provided 
that  be  the  critical  hour),  and  fatigue  themselves  with 
the  violent  exercise  of  digging  for  what  they  shall 
never  find,  and  perhaps  getting  a  cold  that  may  cost 
their  lives,  or  at  least  disordering  themselves  so  as  to 
be  fit  for  no  business  beside  for  some  days  after. 
Surely  this  is  nothing  less  than  the  most  egregious 
folly  and  madness. 

I  shall  conclude  with  the  words  of  my  discreet 
friend  Agricola,  of  Chester  county,  when  he  gave  his 
son  a  good  plantation.  "My  son,"  said  he,  "I  give 
thee  now  a  valuable  parcel  of  land ;  I  assure  thee  I 
have  found  a  considerable  quantity  of  gold  by  digging 
there ;  thee  mayst  do  the  same ;  but  thee  must  care- 
fully observe  this,  Never  to  dig  more  than  plough-deep." 


46  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 


DIALOGUE  BETWEEN  PHILOCLES  AND  HORATIO,  MEET- 
ING  ACCIDENTALLY  IN  THE  FIELDS,  CONCERNING  VIR- 
TUB  AND  PLEASURE. 

FROM    THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE,    JUNE    23,    1730. 

Philocles.  My  friend  Horatio!  I  am  very  glad  to 
see  you.  Prithee,  how  came  such  a  man  as  you  alone  ? 
And  musing  too  ?  What  misfortune  in  your  pleasures 
has  sent  you  to  philosophy  for  relief? 

Horatio.  You  guess  very  right,  my  dear  Philocles ; 
we  pleasure-hunters  are  never  without  them ;  and  yet, 
so  enchanting  is  the  game,  we  cannot  quit  the  chase. 
How  calm  and  undisturbed  is  your  life !  How  free  from 
present  embarrassments  and  future  cares !  I  know 
you  love  me,  and  look  with  cpmpassion  upon  my  con- 
duct ;  show  me  then  the  path  which  leads  up  to  that 
constant  and  invariable  good,  which  I  have  heard  you 
so  beautifully  describe,  and  which  you  seem  so  fully 
to  possess. 

Phil.  There  are  few  men  in  the  world  I  value  more 
than  you,  Horatio ;  for,  amidst  all  your  foibles  and 
painful  pursuits  of  pleasure,  I  have  oft  observed  in  you 
an  honest  heart,  and  a  mind  strongly  bent  towards 
virtue.  I  wish,  from  my  soul,  I  could  assist  you  in 
acting  steadily  the  part  of  a  reasonable  creature ;  for, 
if  you  would  not  think  it  a  paradox,  I  should  tell  yon 
I  love  you  better  than  you  do  yourself. 

Hor.  A  paradox  indeed !  Better  than  I  do  myself ! 
When  I  love  my  dear  self  so  well,  that  I  love  every 
thing  else  for  my  own  sake. 

Phil.  He  only  loves  himself  well,  who  rightly  and 
judiciously  loves  himself. 

Hor.    What  do  you  mean  by  that,  Philocles  ?     You 


MISCELLANEOUS.  47 

men  of  reason  and  virtue  are  always  dealing  in  mys- 
teries,   though   you   laugh  at  them  when   the   church 
makes  them.     I  think  he  loves  himself  very  well  and 
very  judiciously  too,  as  you  call  it,  who  allows  himself 
to  do  whatever  he  pleases. 

Phil.  What,  though  it  be  to  the  ruin  and  destruction 
of  that  very  self  which  he  loves  so  well  ?  That  man 
alone  loves  himself  rightly,  who  procures  the  greatest 
possible  good  to  himself  through  the  whole  of  his  ex- 
istence; and  so  pursues  pleasure  as  not  to  give  for 
it  more  than  it  is  worth. 

Hor.  That  depends  all  upon  opinion.  Who  shall 
judge  what  the  pleasure  is  worth  ?  Suppose  a  pleasing 
form  of  the  fair  kind  strikes  me  so  much,  that  I  can 
enjoy  nothing  without  the  enjoyment  of  that  one  ob- 
ject ;  or,  that  pleasure  in  general  is  so  favorite  a  mis- 
tress, that  I  will  take  her  as  men  do  their  wives,  for 
better,  for  worse;  minding  no  consequences,  nor  re- 
garding what  is  to  come.  Why  should  I  not  do  it? 

Phil  Suppose,  Horatio,  that  a  friend  of  yours  entered 
into  the  world  about  two-and-twenty,  with  a  healthful 
vigorous  body,  and  a  fair  plentiful  estate  of  about  five 
hundred  pounds  a  year ;  and  yet,  before  he  had  reach- 
ed thirty,  should,  by  following  his  own  pleasures,  and 
not  as  you  duly  regarding  consequences,  have  run  out 
of  his  estate,  and  disabled  his  body  to  that  degree, 
that  he  had  neither  the  means  nor  capacity  of  enjoy- 
ment left,  nor  any  thing  else  to  do  but  wisely  shoot 
himself  through  the  head  to  be  at  rest;  what  would 
you  say  to  this  unfortunate  man's  conduct?  Is  it  wrong 
by  opinion  or  fancy  only  ?  Or  is  there  really  a  right  and 
wrong  in  the  case?  Is  not  one  opinion  of  life  and 
action  juster  than  another?  Or  one  sort  of  conduct 
preferable  to  another?  Or  does  that  miserable  son  of 
pleasure  appear  as  reasonable  and  lovely  a  being  in 


48  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

your  eyes,  as  a  man  who,  by  prudently  and  rightly 
gratifying  his  natural  passions,  had  preserved  his  body 
in  full  health,  and  his  estate  entire,  and  enjoyed  both 
to  a  good  old  age,  and  then  died  with  a  thankful  heart 
for  the  good  things  he  had  received,  and  with  an 
entire  submission  to  the  will  of  Him  who  first  called 
him  into  being  ?  Say,  Horatio,  are  these  men  equally 
wise  and  happy  ?  And  is  every  thing  to  be  measured 
by  mere  fancy  and  opinion,  without  considering  whether 
that  fancy  or  opinion  be  right  ? 

Hor.  Hardly  so  neither,  I  think ;  yet  sure  the  wise 
and  good  Author  of  nature  could  never  make  us  to 
plague  us.  He  could  never  give  us  passions,  on  pur- 
pose to  subdue  and  conquer  them ;  nor  produce  this 
self  of  mine,  or  any  other  self,  only  that  it  may  be 
denied ;  for  that  is  denying  the  works  of  the  great 
Creator  himself.  Self-denial,  then,  which  is  what  I 
suppose  you  mean  by  prudence,  seems  to  me  not  only 
absurd,  but  very  dishonorable  to  that  Supreme  Wisdom 
and  Goodness,  which  is  supposed  to  make  so  ridiculous 
and  contradictory  a  creature,  that  must  be  always 
fighting  with  himself  in  order  to  be  at  rest,  and  under- 
go voluntary  hardships  in  order  to  be  happy.  Are  we 
created  sick,  only  to  be  commanded  to  be  sound  1  Are 
we  born  under  one  law,  our  passions,  and  yet  bound 
to  another,  that  of  reason  ?  Answer  me,  Philocles,  for 
I  am  warmly  concerned  for  the  honor  of  Nature,  the 
mother  of  us  all. 

Phil.  I  find,  Horatio,  my  two  characters  have  af- 
frighted you ;  so  that  you  decline  the  trial  of  what  is 
good,  by  reason ;  and  had  rather  make  a  bold  attack 
upon  Providence,  the  usual  way  of  you  gentlemen  of 
fashion,  who,  when  by  living  in  defiance  of  the  eternal 
rules  of  reason,  you  have  plunged  yourselves  into  a 
fhousand  difficulties,  endeavour  to  make  yourselves 


MISCELLANEOUS.  49 

easy  by  throwing  the  burden  upon  Nature.  You  are, 
Horatio,  in  a  very  miserable  condition  indeed ;  for  you 
say  you  cannot  be  happy  if  you  control  your  passions ; 
and  you  feel  yourself  miserable  by  an  unrestrained  gra- 
tification of  them :  so  that  here  is  evil,  irremediable 
evil,  either  way. 

Hor.  That  is  very  true ;  at  least  it  appears  so  to  me. 
Pray  what  have  you  to  say,  Philocles,  in  honor  of 
Nature  or  Providence  ?  Methinks  I  am  in  pain  for  her. 
How  do  you  rescue  her,  poor  lady  ? 

Phil.  This,  my  dear  Horatio,  I  have  to  say;  that 
what  you  find  fault  with  and  clamor  against,  as  the 
most  terrible  evil  in  the  world,  self-denial,  is  really  the 
greatest  good,  and  the  highest  self- gratification.  If,  in- 
deed, you  use  the  word  in  the  sense  of  some  weak 
moralists,  and  much  weaker  divines,  you  will  have 
just  reason  to  laugh  at  it ;  but  if  you  take  it,  as  under- 
stood by  philosophers  and  men  of  sense,  you  will  pres- 
ently see  her  charms,  and  fly  to  her  embraces,  not- 
withstanding her  demure  looks,  as  absolutely  necessary 
to  produce  even  your  own  darling  sole  good,  pleasure ; 
for  self-denial  is  never  a  duty,  or  a  reasonable  action, 
but  as  it  is  a  natural  means  of  procuring  more  pleasure 
than  you  can  taste  without  it ;  so  that  this  grave,  saint- 
like guide  to  happiness,  as  rough  and  dreadful  as  she 
has  been  made  to  appear,  is  in  truth  the  kindest  and 
most  beautiful  mistress  in  the  world. 

Hor.  Prithee,  Philocles,  do  not  wrap  yourself  in 
allegory  and  metaphor.  Why  do  you  tease  me  thus? 
I  long  to  be  satisfied,  what  is  this  philosophical  self- 
denial,  the  necessity  and  reason  of  it ;  I  am  impatient, 
and  all  on  fire.  Explain,  therefore,  in  your  beautiful, 
natural,  easy  way  of  reasoning,  what  I  am  to  under- 
stand by  this  grave  lady  of  yours,  with  so  forbidding, 
downcast  looks,  and  yet  so  absolutely  necessary  to 

VOL.    II.  4 


50  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

my  pleasures.    I  stand  to  embrace  her,  for,  you  know, 
pleasure  I  court  under  all  shapes  and  forms. 

Phil.  Attend,  then,  and  you  will  see  the  reason  of 
this  philosophical  self-denial.  There  can  be  no  abso- 
lute perfection  in  any  creature ;  because  every  creature 
is  derived  from  something  of  a  superior  existence,  and 
dependent  on  that  source  for  its  own  existence.  No 
created  being  can  be  all-wise,  all-good,  and  all-power- 
ful, because  his  powers  and  capacities  are  finite  and 
limited ;  consequently  whatever  is  created  must,  in  its 
own  nature,  be  subject  to  error,  irregularity,  excess, 
and  imperfectness.  All  intelligent,  rational  agents  find 
in  themselves  a  power  of  judging  what  kind  of  beings 
they  are,  what  actions  are  proper  to  preserve  them, 
and  what  consequences  will  generally  attend  them, 
what  pleasures  they  are  for,  and  to  what  degree  their 
natures  are  capable  of  receiving  them.  All  we  have 
to  do  then,  Horatio,  is  to  consider,  when  we  are  sur- 
prised with  a  new  object,  and  passionately  desire  to 
enjoy  it,  whether  the  gratifying  that  passion  be  con- 
sistent with  the  gratifying  other  passions  and  appetites, 
equally  if  not  more  necessary  to  us ;  and  whether  it 
consists  with  our  happiness  to-morrow,  next  week,  or 
next  year ;  for,  as  we  all  wish  to  live,  we  are  obliged 
by  reason  to  take  as  much  care  for  our  future,  as  our 
present  happiness,  and  not  build  one  upon  the  ruins 
of  the  other.  But  if,  through  the  strength  and  power 
of  a  present  passion,  and  through  want  of  attending 
to  consequences,  we  have  erred  and  exceeded  the 
bounds  which  nature  and  reason  have  set  us ;  we  are 
then,  for  our  own  sakes,  to  refrain,  or  deny  ourselves  a 
present  momentary  pleasure  for  a  future,  constant,  and 
durable  one.  So  that  this  philosophical  self-denial  is 
only  refusing  to  do  an  action  which  you  strongly  desire, 
because  it  is  inconsistent  with  health,  convenience,  or 


MISCELLANEOUS.  51 

circumstances  in  the  world ;  or,  in  other  words,  because 
it  would  cost  you  more  than  it  was  worth.  You  would 
lose  by  it,  as  a  man  of  pleasure.  Thus  you  see,  Ho- 
ratio, that  self-denial  is  not  only  the  most  reasonable, 
but  the  most  pleasant  thing  in  the  world. 

Hor.  We  are  just  coming  into  town,  so  that  we 
cannot  pursue  this  argument  any  farther  at  present; 
you  have  said  a  great  deal  for  nature,  Providence,  and 
reason ;  happy  are  they  who  can  follow  such  divine 
guides. 

Phil.  Horatio,  good  night ;  I  wish  you  wise  in  your 
pleasures. 

Hor.  I  wish,  Philocles,  I  could  be  as  wise  in  my 
pleasures  as  you  are  pleasantly  wise ;  your  wisdom  is 
agreeable,  your  virtue  is  amiable,  and  your  philosophy 
the  highest  luxury.  Adieu,  thou  enchanting  reasoner ! 


A  SECOND  DIALOGUE  BETWEEN  PHILOCLES  AND  HORA- 
TIO, CONCERNING  VIRTUE  AND  PLEASURE. 

FROM    THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE,    JULY   9,    1730. 

Philocles.  Dear  Horatio,  where  hast  thou  been  these 
three  or  four  months  ?  What  new  adventures  have 
you  fallen  upon  since  I  met  you  in  these  delightful, 
all-inspiring  fields,  and  wondered  how  such  a  pleasure- 
hunter  as  you  could  bear  being  alone  ? 

Horatio.  O  Philocles,  thou  best  of  friends,  because 
a  friend  to  reason  and  virtue,  I  am  very  glad  to  see 
you.  Do  not  you  remember,  I  told  you  then,  that 
some  misfortunes  in  my  pleasures  had  sent  me  to 
philosophy  for  relief?  But  now  I  do  assure  you  I  can, 
without  a  sigh,  leave  other  pleasures  for  those  of  phi- 
losophy ;  I  can  hear  the  word  reason  mentioned,  and 


52  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

virtue  praised,  without  laughing.  Do  not  I  bid  fair  for 
conversion,  think  you  ? 

Phil.  Very  fair,  Horatio;  for  I  remember  the  time 
when  reason,  virtue,  and  pleasure,  were  the  same  thing 
with  you;  when  you  counted  nothing  good  but  what 
pleased,  nor  an}r  thing  reasonable  but  what  you  gained 
by ;  when  you  made  a  jest  of  mind,  and  the  pleasures 
of  reflection,  and  elegantly  placed  your  sole  happiness, 
like  the  rest  of  the  animal  creation,  in  the  gratification 
of  sense. 

Hor.  I  did  so;  but  in  our  last  conversation,  when 
walking  upon  the  brow  of  this  hill,  and  looking  down 
on  that  broad,  rapid  river,  and  yon  widely-extended, 
beautifully-varied  plain,  you  taught  me  another  doc- 
trine ;  you  showed  me,  that  self-denial,  which  above 
all  things  I  abhorred,  was  really  the  greatest  good,  and 
the  highest  self-gratification,  and  absolutely  necessary 
to  produce  even  my  own  darling  sole  good,  pleasure. 

Phil.  True;  I  told  you  that  self-denial  was  never 
a  duty,  but  when  it  was  a  natural  means  of  procuring 
more  pleasure  than  we  could  taste  without  it ;  that  as 
we  all  strongly  desire  to  live,  and  to  live  only  to  enjoy, 
we  should  take  as  much  care  about  our  future  as  our 
present  happiness,  and  not  build  one  upon  the  ruins 
of  the  other;  that  we  should  look  to  the  end,  and 
regard  consequences ;  and  if,  through  want  of  attention 
we  had  erred,  and  exceeded  the  bounds  which  nature 
had  set  us,  we  were  then  obliged,  for  our  own  sakes. 
to  refrain  or  deny  ourselves  a  present  momentary 
pleasure  for  a  future,  constant,  and  durable  good. 

Hor.  You  have  shown,  Philocles,  that  self-denial, 
which  weak  or  interested  men  have  rendered  the  most 
forbidding,  is  really  the  most  delightful  and  amiable, 
the  most  reasonable  and  pleasant  thing  in  the  world. 
In  a  word,  if  I  understand  you  aright,  self-denial  is, 


MISCELLANEOUS.  53 

in  truth,  self-recognising,  self-acknowledging,  or  self- 
owning.  But  now,  my  friend,  you  are  to  perform 
another  promise,  and  show  me  the  path  that  leads  up 
to  that  constant,  durable,  and  invariable  good,  which  I 
have  heard  you  so  beautifully  describe,  and  which  you 
seem  so  fully  to  possess.  Is  not  this  good  of  yours  a 
mere  chimera  ?  Can  any  thing  be  constant  in  a  world 
which  is  eternally  changing,  and  which  appears  to  exist 
by  an  everlasting  revolution  of  one  thing  into  another, 
and  where  every  thing  without  us,  and  every  thing 
within  us,  is  in  perpetual  motion  ?  What  is  this  con- 
stant, durable  good,  then,  of  yours  ?  Prithee,  satisfy  my 
soul,  for  I  am  all  on  fire,  and  impatient  to  enjoy  her. 
Produce  this  eternal  blooming  goddess  with  never-fading 
charms,  and  see  whether  I  will  not  embrace  her  with  as 
much  eagerness  and  rapture  as  you. 

Phil.  You  seem  enthusiastically  warm,  Horatio;  I 
will  wait  till  you  are  cool  enough  to  attend  to  the  sober, 
dispassionate  voice  of  reason. 

Hor.  You  mistake  me,  my  dear  Philocles ;  my 
warmth  is  not  so  great  as  to  run  away  with  my  reason ; 
it  is  only  just  raised  enough  to  open  my  faculties,  and 
fit  them  to  receive  those  eternal  truths,  and  that  durable 
good,  which  you  so  triumphantly  boasted  of.  Begin, 
then ;  I  am  prepared. 

Phil.  I  will.  I  believe,  Horatio,  with  all  your  skep- 
ticism about  you,  you  will  allow  that  good  to  be  con- 
stant which  is  never  absent  from  you,  and  that  to  be 
durable  which  never  ends  but  with  your  being. 

Hor.    Yes,  go  on. 

Phil.  That  can  never  be  the  good  of  a  creature, 
which  when  present,  the  creature  may  be  miserable, 
and  wnen  absent,  is  certainly  so. 

Hor.    I  think  not ;  but  pray  explain  what  you  mean ; 


54  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

for  I  am  not  much  used  to  this  abstract  way  of  rea- 
soning. 

Phil.  I  mean  all  the  pleasures  of  sense.  The  good 
of  man  cannot  consist  in  the  mere  pleasures  of  sense ; 
because,  when  any  one  of  those  objects  which  you  love 
is  absent,  or  cannot  be  come  at,  }ou  are  certainly 
miserable;  and  if  the  faculty  be  impaired,  though  the 
object  be  present,  you  cannot  enjoy  it.  So  that  this 
sensual  good  depends  upon  a  thousand  things  without 
and  within  you,  and  all  out  of  your  power.  Can  this 
then  be  the  good  of  man?  Say,  Horatio,  what  think 
you,  is  not  this  a  checkered,  fleeting,  fantastical  good  ? 
Can  that,  in  any  propriety  of  speech,  be  called  the 
good  of  man  which,  even  while  he  is  tasting,  he  may 
be  miserable ;  and  which  when  he  cannot  taste,  he  is 
necessarily  so?  Can  that  be  our  good,  which  costs  us 
a  great  deal  of  pains  to  obtain,  which  cloys  in  possess- 
ing, for  which  we  must  wait  the  return  of  appetite 
before  we  can  enjoy  again?  Or  is  that  our  good, 
which  we  can  come  at  without  difficulty,  which  is 
heightened  by  possession,  which  never  ends  in  weari- 
ness and  disappointment,  and  which,  the  more  we 
enjoy,  the  better  qualified  we  are  to  enjoy  on  ? 

Hor.  The  latter,  I  think ;  but  why  do  you  torment 
me  thus  ?  Philocles,  show  me  this  good  immediately. 

Phil.  I  have  showed  you  what  it  is  not;  it  is  not 
sensual,  but  it  is  rational  and  moral  good.  It  is  doing 
all  the  good  we  can  to  others,  by  acts  of  humanity, 
friendship,  generosity,  and  benevolence;  this  is  that 
constant  and  durable  good,  which  will  afford  content- 
ment and  satisfaction  always  alike,  without  variation 
or  diminution.  I  speak  to  your  experience  now,  Ho- 
ratio. Did  you  ever  find  yourself  weary  of  relieving  the 
miserable  ?  or  of  raising  the  distressed  into  life  or  hap- 
piness? Or  rather,  do  not  you  find  the  pleasure  grow 


MISCELLANEOUS.  55 

upon  you  by  repetition,  and  that  it  is  greater  in  the 
reflection  than  in  the  act  itself?  Is  there  a  pleasure 
upon  earth  to  be  compared  with  that  which  arises  from 
the  sense  of  making  others  happy  ?  Can  this  pleasure 
ever  be  absent,  or  ever  end  but  with  your  being  ?  Does 
it  not  always  accompany  you  ?  Doth  not  it  lie  down 
and  rise  with  you,  live  as  long  as  you  live,  give  you 
consolation  in  the  hour  of  death,  and  remain  with  you 
when  all  other  things  are  going  to  forsake  you,  or  you 
them? 

Hor.  How  glowingly  you  paint,  Philocles.  Methinks 
Horatio  is  amongst  the  enthusiasts.  I  feel  the  passion ; 
I  am  enchantingly  convinced,  but  I  do  not  know  why ; 
overborne  by  something  stronger  than  reason.  Sure 
some  divinity  speaks  within  me.  But  prithee,  Philo- 
cles, give  me  the  cause,  why  this  rational  and  moral 
good  so  infinitely  excels  the  mere  natural  or  sensual. 

Phil.  I  think,  Horatio,  that  I  have  clearly  shown  you 
the  difference  between  merely  natural  or  sensual  good, 
and  rational  or  moral  good.  Natural  or  sensual  pleasure 
continues  no  longer  than  the  action  itself;  but  this 
divine  or  moral  pleasure  continues  when  the  action 
is  over,  and  swells  and  grows  upon  your  hand  by  re- 
flection. The  one  is  inconstant,  unsatisfying,  of  short 
duration,  and  attended  with  numberless  ills ;  the  other 
is  constant,  yields  full  satisfaction,  is  durable,  and  no 
evils  preceding,  accompanying,  or  following  it.  But  if 
you  inquire  farther  into  the  cause  of  this  difference, 
and  would  know  why  the  moral  pleasures  are  greater 
than  the  sensual,  perhaps  the  reason  is  the  same  as 
in  all  other  creatures,  that  their  happiness  or  chief  good 
consists  in  acting  up  to  their  chief  faculty,  or  that 
faculty  which  distinguishes  them  from  all  creatures  of  a 
different  species.  The  chief  faculty  in  man  is  his 
reason,  and  consequently  his  chief  good,  or  that  which 


56  FRANKLIN'S  WAITINGS. 

may  be  justly  called  his  good,  consists  not  merely  in 
action,  but  in  reasonable  action.  By  reasonable  ac- 
tions, we  understand  those  actions  which  are  preserv- 
ative of  the  human  kind,  and  naturally  tend  to  produce 
real  and  unmixed  happiness;  and  these  actions,  by 
way  of  distinction,  we  call  actions  morally  good. 

Hor.  You  speak  very  clearly,  Philocles ;  but,  that 
no  difficulty  may  remain  on  my  mind,  pray  tell  me 
what  is  the  real  difference  between  natural  good  and 
evil,  and  moral  good  and  evil  ?  for  I  know  several 
people  who  use  the  terms  without  ideas. 

Phil.  That  may  be.  The  difference  lies  only  hi 
this  ;  that  natural  good  and  evil  are  pleasure  and  pain ; 
moral  good  and  evil  are  pleasure  or  pain  produced  with 
intention  and  design;  for  it  is  the  intention  only  that 
makes  the  agent  morally  good  or  bad. 

Hor.  But  may  not  a  man,  with  a  very  good  inten- 
tion, do  an  evil  action  ? 

Phil.  Yes ;  but  then  he  errs  in  his  judgment,  though 
his  design  be  good.  If  his  error  is  inevitable,  or  such 
as,  all  things  considered,  he  could  not  help,  he  is  in- 
culpable  ;  but,  if  it  arose  through  want  of  diligence  in 
forming  his  judgment  about  the  nature  of  human  ac- 
tions, he  is  immoral  and  culpable. 

Hor.  I  find,  then,  that  in  order  to  please  ourselves 
rightly,  or  to  do  good  to  others  morally,  we  should  take 
great  care  of  our  opinions. 

Phil.  Nothing  concerns  you  more ;  for,  as  the  happi- 
ness or  real  good  of  men  consists  in  right  action,  and 
right  action  cannot  be  produced  without  right  opinion, 
it  behoves  us,  above  all  things  in  this  world,  to  take 
care  that  our  own  opinions  of  things  be  according  to 
the  nature  of  things.  The  foundation  of  all  virtue  and 
happiness  is  thinking  rightlv.  He  who  sees  an  action 
is  risjht,  that  is,  naturally  tending  to  good,  and  does  it 


MISCELLANEOUS.  57 

because  of  that  tendency,  he  only  is  a  moral  man ;  and 
he  alone  is  capable  of  that  constant,  durable,  and  in- 
variable good,  which  has  been  the  subject  of  this  con- 
versation. 

Hor.  How,  my  dear  philosophical  guide,  shall  I  be 
able  to  know,  and  determine  certainly,  what  is  right 
and  wrong  in  life  ? 

Phil.  As  easily  as  you  distinguish  a  circle  from  a 
square,  or  light  from  darkness.  Look,  Horatio,  into 
the  sacred  book  of  nature ;  read  your  own  nature,  and 
view  the  relation  which  other  men  stand  in  to  you,  and 
you  to  them,  and  you  will  immediately  see  what  con- 
stitutes human  happiness,  and  consequently  what  is 
right. 

Hor.  We  are  just  coming  into  town,  and  can  say 
no  more  at  present.  You  are  my  good  genius,  Philo- 
cles.  You  have  showed  me  what  is  good.  You  have 
redeemed  me  from  the  slavery  and  misery  of  folly  and 
vice,  and  made  me  a  free  and  happy  being. 

Phil.  Then  I  am  the  happiest  man  in  the  world. 
Be  you  steady,  Horatio.  Never  depart  from  reason 
and  virtue. 

Hor.  Sooner  will  I  lose  my  existence.  Good  night, 
Philocles. 

Phil.  Adieu,  dear  Horatio ! 


PUBLIC  MEN. 

FROM  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GAZETTE,  SEPT.  3,  1730. 

THE  following  is  a  dialogue  between  Socrates,  the 
great  Athenian  philosopher,  and  one  Glaucon,  a  private 
man,  of  mean  abilities,  but  ambitious  of  being  chosen 
a  senator,  and  of  governing  the  republic;  wherein 


58  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

Socrates  in  a  pleasant  manner  convinces  him  of  his 
incapacity  for  public  affairs,  by  making  him  sensible 
of  his  ignorance  of  the  interests  of  his  country  in  their 
several  branches,  and  entirely  dissuades  him  from  any 
attempt  of  that  nature.  There  is  also  added,  at  the 
end,  part  of  another  dialogue  the  same  Socrates  had 
with  one  Charmidas,  a  worthy  man,  but  too  modest, 
wherein  he  endeavours  to  persuade  him  to  put  himself 
forward  and  undertake  public  business,  as  being  very 
capable  of  it.  The  whole  is  taken  from  Xenophorfs 
Memorable  Things  of  Socrates,  Book  Third. 

"  A  certain  man,  whose  name  was  Glaucon,  the  son 
of  Ariston,  had  so  fixed  it  in  his  mind  to  govern  the 
republic,  that  he  frequently  presented  himself  before 
the  people  to  discourse  of  affairs  of  state,  though  all 
the  world  laughed  at  him  for  it;  nor  was  it  in  the 
power  of  his  relations  or  friends  to  dissuade  him  from 
that  design.  But  Socrates  had  a  kindness  for  him,  on 
account  of  Plato,  his  brother,  and  he  only  it  was  who 
made  him  change  his  resolution.  He  met  him,  and 
accosted  him  in  so  winning  a  manner,  that  he  first 
obliged  him  to  hearken  to  his  discourse.  He  began 
with  him  thus ; 

"  '  You  have  a  mind  then  to  govern  the  republic  ? ' 

"  *  I  have  so,'  answered  Glaucon. 

" '  You  cannot,'  replied  Socrates,  '  have  a  more  noble 
design;  for  if  you  can  accomplish  it  so  as  to  be- 
come absolute,  you  will  be  able  to  serve  your  friends, 
you  will  raise  your  family,  you  will  extend  the  bounds 
of  your  country,  you  will  be  known,  not  only  in  Athens, 
but  through  all  Greece,  and  perhaps  your  renown  will 
fly  even  to  the  barbarous  nations,  as  did  that  of  The- 
mistocles.  In  short,  wherever  you  come,  you  will  have 
the  respect  and  admiration  of  all  the  world.' 

"These  words  soothed   Glaucon,   and  won  him  to 


MISCELLANEOUS.  f>9 

give  ear  to  Socrates,  who  went  on  in  this  manner. 
'But  it  is  certain,  that  if  you  desire  to  be  honored,  you 
must  be  useful  to  the  state.' 

" '  Certainly,'  said  Glaucon. 

" '  And  in  the  name  of  all  the  gods,'  n  plied  Socrates, 
'tell  me,  what  is  the  first  service  that  you  intend  to 
render  the  state  ? ' 

"Glaucon  was  considering  what  to  answer,  when 
Socrates  continued.  '  If  you  design  to  make  the  for- 
tune of  one  of  your  friends,  you  will  endeavour  to  make 
hmi  rich,  and  thus  perhaps  you  will  make  it  your 
business  to  enrich  the  republic?' 

" '  I  would,'  answered  Glaucon. 

"  Socrates  replied ;  '  Would  not  the  way  to  enrich 
the  republic  be  to  increase  its  revenue  ? ' 

" '  It  is  very  likely  it  would,'  answered  Glaucon. 

" '  Tell  me  then,  in  what  consists  the  revenue  of  the 
state,  and  to  how  much  it  may  amount?  I  presume 
you  have  particularly  studied  this  matter,  to  the  end 
that,  if  any  thing  should  be  lost  on  one  hand,  you  might 
know  where  to  make  it  good  on  another,  and  that,  if  a 
fund  should  fail  on  a  sudden,  you  might  immediately 
be  able  to  settle  another  in  its  place  ? ' 

" '  I  protest,'  answered  Glaucon, '  I  have  never  thought 
of  this.' 

" '  Tell  me  at  least  the  expenses  of  the  republic,  for 
no  doubt  you  intend  to  retrench  the  superfluous  ? ' 

" '  I  never  thought  of  this  either,'  said  Glaucon. 

" '  You  were  best  then  to  put  off  to  another  time  your 
design  of  enriching  the  republic,  which  you  can  never 
be  able  to  do  while  you  are  ignorant  both  of  its  ex- 
penses and  revenue.' 

" '  There  is  another  way  to  enrich  a  state,'  said  Glau- 
con, '  of  which  you  take  no  notice,  and  that  is,  by  the 
ruin  [spoils]  of  its  enemies.' 


60  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

" '  You  are  in  the  right,'  answered  Socrates ;  '  but 
to  this  end  it  is  necessary  to  be  stronger  than  they, 
otherwise  we  shall  run  the  hazard  of  losing  what  we 
have.  He,  therefore,  who  talks  of  undertaking  a  war, 
ought  to  know  the  strength  on  both  sides,  to  the  end 
that  if  his  party  be  the  stronger  he  may  boldly  advise 
for  war,  and  that  if  it  be  the  weaker  he  may  dissuade 
the  people  from  engaging  themselves  in  so  dangerous 
an  enterprise.' 

"  *  All  this  is  true.' 

"'Tell  me,  then,'  continued  Socrates,  'how  strong 
our  forces  are  by  sea  and  land,  and  how  strong  are 
our  enemies. ' 

" '  Indeed,'  said  Glaucon,  '  I  cannot  tell  you  on  a 
sudden.' 

" '  If  you  have  a  list  of  them  in  writing,  pray  show  it 
me ;  I  should  be  glad  to  hear  it  read.' 

" '  I  have  it  not  yet.' 

" '  I  see,  then,'  said  Socrates,  '  that  we  shall  not  en- 
gage in  war  so  soon ;  for  the  greatness  of  the  under- 
taking will  hinder  you  from  maturely  weighing  all  the 
consequences  of  it  in  the  beginning  of  your  govern- 
ment. But,'  continued  he,  'you  have  thought  of  the 
defence  of  the  country ;  you  know  what  garrisons  are 
necessary,  and  what  are  not ;  you  know  what  number 
of  troops  is  sufficient  in  one,  and  not  sufficient  in 
another ;  you  will  cause  the  necessary  garrisons  to  be 
reinforced,  and  will  disband  those  that  are  useless  ? ' 

" '  I  should  be  of  opinion,'  said  Glaucon,  '  to  leave 
none  of  them  on  foot,  because  they  ruin  a  country  on 
pretence  of  defending  it.' 

" '  But,'  Socrates  objected,  '  if  all  the  garrisons  were 
taken  away,  there  would  be  nothing  to  hinder  the  first 
comer  from  carrying  off  what  he  pleased ;  but  how 
come  you  to  know  that  the  garrisons  behave  themselves 


MISCELLANEOUS.  61 

so  ill?  Have  you  been  upon  the  place?  Have  you 
seen  them  ? ' 

"  '  Not  at  all ;  but  I  suspect  it  to  be  so.' 

"  *  When  therefore  we  are  certain  of  it,'  said  Socrates, 
*  and  can  speak  upon  better  grounds  than  simple  con- 
jectures, we  will  propose  this  advice  to  the  senate.' 

" '  It  may  be  well  to  do  so,'  said  Glaucon. 

" « It  comes  into  my  mind,  too,'  continued  Socrates, 
'that  you  have  never  been  at  the  mines  of  silver,  to 
examine  why  they  bring  not  in  so  much  now  as  they 
did  formerly.' 

"  '  You  say  true ;  I  have  never  been  there.' 

"  *  Indeed  they  say  the  place  is  very  unhealthy,  and 
that  may  excuse  you.' 

"  *  You  rally  me  now,'  said  Glaucon. 

"  Socrates  added,  *  But  I  believe  you  have  at  least 
observed  how  much  corn  our  lands  produce,  how  long 
it  will  serve  to  supply  our  city,  and  how  much  more 
we  shall  want  for  the  whole  year;  to  the  end  you 
may  not  be  surprised  with  a  scarcity  of  bread,  but 
may  give  timely  orders  for  the  necessary  provisions.' 

" '  There  is  a  deal  to  do,'  said  Glaucon,  *  if  we  must 
take  care  of  all  these  things.' 

" '  There  is  so,'  replied  Socrates ;  '  and  it  is  even  im- 
possible to  manage  our  own  families  well,  unless  we 
know  all  that  is  wanting,  and  take  care  to  provide  it. 
As  you  see,  therefore,  that  our  city  is  composed  of  above 
ten  thousand  families,  and  it  being  a  difficult  task  to 
watch  over  them  all  at  once,  why  did  you  not  first  try 
to  retrieve  your  uncle's  affairs,  which  are  running  to 
decay?  and  after  having  given  that  proof  of  your -in- 
dustry, you  might  have  taken  a  greater  trust  upon  you. 
But  now,  when  you  find  yourself  incapable  of  aiding 
a  private  man,  how  can  you  think  of  behaving  yourself 
so  as  to  be  useful  to  a  whole  people  ?  Ought  a  man, 


62  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

who  has  not  strength  enough  to  carry  a  hundred 
pound  weight,  to  undertake  to  carry  a  heavier  burden  1 ' 

" '  I  would  have  done  good  service  to  my  uncle,'  said 
Glaucon,  *  if  he  would  have  taken  my  advice.' 

" '  How,'  replied  Socrates,  '  have  you  not  hitherto 
been  able  to  govern  the  mind  of  your  uncle,  and  do 
you  now  believe  yourself  able  to  govern  the  minds  of  all 
the  Athenians,  and  his  among  the  rest?  Take  heed, 
my  dear  Glaucon,  take  heed  lest  too  great  a  desire  of 
power  should  render  you  despised  ;  consider  how  dan- 
gerous it  is  to  speak  and  entertain  ourselves  concerning 
things  we  do  not  understand ;  what  a  figure  do  those 
forward  and  rash  people  make  in  the  world  who  do 
so ;  and  judge  yourself,  whether  they  acquire  more 
esteem  than  blame,  whether  they  are  more  admired 
than  contemned.  Think,  on  the  contrary,  with  how 
much  more  honor  a  man  is  regarded,  who  understands 
perfectly  what  he  says  and  what  he  does,  and  then 
you  will  confess,  that  renown  and  applause  have  always 
been  the  recompense  of  true  merit,  and  shame  the 
reward  of  ignorance  and  temerity.  If,  therefore,  you 
would  be  honored,  endeavour  to  be  a  man  of  true 
merit;  and,  if  you  enter  upon  the  government  of  the 
republic  with  a  mind  more  sagacious  than  usual,  I 
shall  not  wonder  if  you  succeed  in  all  your  designs.' " 

Thus  Socrates  put  a  stop  to  the  disorderly  ambition 
of  this  man ;  but,  on  an  occasion  quite  contrary,  he  in 
the  following  manner  exhorted  Charmidas  to  take  an 
employment. 

"  He  was  a  man  of  sense,  and  more  deserving  than 
most  others  in  the  same  post ;  but,  as  he  was  of  a 
modest  disposition,  he  constantly  declined,  and  made 
great  difficulties  of  engaging  himself  in  public  business. 
Socrates  therefore  addressed  himself  to  him  in  this 
manner ; 


MISCELLANEOUS.  63 

" '  If  you  knew  any  man  that  could  gain  the  prizes 
in  the  public  games,  and  by  that  means  render  himself 
illustrious,  and  acquire  glory  to  his  country,  what  would 
you  say  of  him  if  he  refused  to  offer  himself  to  the 
combat  ? ' 

"  *  I  would  say,'  answered  Charmidas,  '  that  he  was  a 
mean -spirited,  effeminate  fellow.' 

"  *  And  if  a  man  were  capable  of  governing  a  republic, 
of  increasing  its  power  by  his  advice,  and  of  raising 
himself  by  this  means  to  a  high  degree  of  honor, 
would  you  not  brand  him  likewise  with  meanness  of 
soul,  if  he  would  not  present  himself  to  be  employed  ? ' 

" '  Perhaps  I  might,'  said  Charmidas ;  '  but  why  do 
you  ask  me  this  question?'  Socrates  replied,  'Be- 
cause you  are  capable  of  managing  the  affairs  of  the 
republic ;  and  nevertheless  you  avoid  doing  so,  though 
in  quality  of  a  citizen  you  are  obliged  to  take  care 
of  the  commonwealth.  Be  no  longer  then  thus  negli- 
gent in  this  matter;  consider  your  abilities  and  your 
duty  with  more  attention,  and  let  not  slip  the  occasions 
of  serving  the  republic,  and  of  rendering  it,  if  possible, 
more  flourishing  than  it  is.  This  will  be  a  blessing, 
whose  influence  will  descend  not  only  on  the  other 
citizens,  but  on  your  best  friends  and  yourself.' " 


SELF-DENIAL  NOT  THE  ESSENCE  OF  VIRTUE. 

FROM    THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE,    FEB.    18,    1734. 

IT  is  commonly  asserted,  that  without  self-denial 
there  is  no  virtue,  and  that  the  greater  the  self-denial 
the  greater  the  virtue. 

If  it  were  said,  that  he  who  cannot  deny  himself  any 
thing  he  inclines  to,  though  he  knows  it  will  be  to  his 


64  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

hurt,  has  not  the  virtue  of  resolution  or  fortitude,  it 
would  be  intelligible  enough ;  but,  as  it  stands,  it  seems 
obscure  or  erroneous. 

Let  us  consider  some  of  the  virtues  singly. 

If  a  man  has  no  inclination  to  wrong  people  in  his 
dealings,  if  he  feels  no  temptation  to  it,  and  therefore 
never  does  it,  can  it  be  said  that  he  is  not  a  just  man  1 
If  he  is  a  just  man,  has  he  not  the  virtue  of  justice  ? 

If  to  a  certain  man  idle  diversions  have  nothing 
in  them  that  is  tempting,  and  therefore  he  never  relaxes 
his  application  to  business  for  their  sake,  is  he  not 
an  industrious  man?  Or  has  he  not  the  virtue  of 
industry  ? 

I  might  in  like  manner  instance  in  all  the  rest  of 
the  virtues;  but,  to  make  the  thing  short,  as  it  is 
certain  that  the  more  we  strive  against  the  temptation 
to  any  vice,  and  practise  the  contrary  virtue,  the  weaker 
will  that  temptation  be,  and  the  stronger  will  be  that 
habit,  till  at  length  the  temptation  has  no  force,  or 
entirely  vanishes;  does  it  follow  from  thence,  that  in 
our  endeavours  to  overcome  vice  we  grow  continually 
less  and  less  virtuous,  till  at  length  we  have  no  virtue 
at  all? 

If  self-denial  be  the  essence  of  virtue,  then  it  follows 
that  the  man,  who  is  naturally  temperate,  just,  £.c.,  is 
not  virtuous ;  but  that  in  order  to  be  virtuous,  he  must, 
in  spite  of  his  natural  inclination,  wrong  his  neighbours. 
and  eat,  and  drink,  &,c.,  to  excess. 

But  perhaps  it  may  be  said,  that  by  the  word  virtue 
in  the  above  assertion,  is  meant  merit ;  and  so  it  should 
stand  thus ;  Without  self-denial  there  is  no  merit,  and 
the  greater  the  self-denial  the  greater  the  merit. 

The  self-denial  here  meant,  must  be  when  our  in- 
clinations are  towards  vice,  or  else  it  would  still  be 
nonsense. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  65 

By  merit  is  understood  desert;  and,  when  we  say 
a  man  merits,  we  mean  that  he  deserves  praise  or 
reward. 

We  do  not  pretend  to  merit  any  thing  of  God,  for 
he  is  above  our  services ;  and  the  benefits  he  confers 
on  us  are  the  effects  of  his  goodness  and  bounty. 

All  our  merit,  then,  is  with  regard  to  one  another, 
and  from  one  to  another. 

Taking,  then,  the  assertion  as  it  last  stands, 

If  a  man  does  me  a  service  from  a  natural  benevolent 
inclination,  does  he  deserve  less  of  me  than  another, 
who  does  me  the  like  kindness  against  his  inclination  ? 

If  I  have  two  journeymen,  one  naturally  industrious, 
the  other  idle,  but  both  perform  a  day's  work  equally 
good,  ought  I  to  give  the  latter  the  most  wages  ? 

Indeed  lazy  workmen  are  commonly  observed  to 
be  more  extravagant  in  their  demands  than  the  in- 
dustrious ;  for,  if  they  have  not  more  for  their  work,  they 
cannot  live  as  well.  But  though  it  be  true  to  a  proverb, 
that  lazy  folks  take  the  most  pains,  does  it  follow  that 
they  deserve  the  most  money  ? 

If  you  were  to  employ  servants  in  affairs  of  trust, 
would  you  not  bid  more  for  one  you  knew  was 
naturally  honest,  than  for  one  naturally  roguish,  but 
who  has  lately  acted  honestly  ?  For  currents  whose 
natural  channel  is  dammed  up,  till  the  new  course  is 
by  time  worn  sufficiently  deep,  and  become  natural, 
are  apt  to  break  their  banks.  If  one  servant  is  more 
valuable  than  another,  has  he  not  more  merit  than  the 
other?  and  yet  this  is  not  on  account  of  superior 
self-denial. 

Is  a  patriot  not  praiseworthy,  if  public  spirit  is  natural 
to  him  ? 

Is  a  pacing-horse  less  valuable  for  being  a  natural 
pacer  ? 

VOL.   II.  5 


66  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

Nor,  in  my  opinion,  has  any  man  less  merit  'or 
having  in  general  natural  virtuous  inclinations. 

The  truth  is,  that  temperance,  justice,  charity,  &c. 
are  virtues,  whether  practised  with,  or  against  our  in- 
clinations, and  the  man,  who  practises  them,  merits  our 
love  and  esteem ;  and  self-denial  is  neither  good  nor 
bad,  but  as  it  is  applied.  He  that  denies  a  vicious 
inclination,  is  virtuous  in  proportion  to  his  resolution  ; 
but  the  most  perfect  virtue  is  above  all  temptation ; 
such  as  the  virtue  of  the  saints  in  heaven;  and  he, 
who  does  a  foolish,  indecent,  or  wicked  thing,  merely 
because  it  is  contrary  to  his  inclination  (like  some  mad 
enthusiasts  I  have  read  of,  who  ran  about  naked,  under- 
the  notion  of  taking  up  the  cross),  is  not  practising 
the  reasonable  science  of  virtue,  but  is  a  lunatic. 


ON  THE  USEFULNESS  OF  THE  MATHEMATICS. 

FROM    THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE,    OCT.   30,    1735. 

MATHEMATICS  originally  signifies  any  kind  of  dis- 
cipline or  learning,  but  now  it  is  taken  for  that  science, 
which  teaches  or  contemplates  whatever  is  capable  of 
being  numbered  or  measured.  That  part  of  the 
mathematics,  which  relates  to  numbers  only,  is  called 
arithmetic ;  and  that,  which  is  concerned  about  measure 
in  general,  whether  length,  breadth,  motion,  force,  &c., 
is  called  geometry. 

As  to  the  usefulness  of  arithmetic,  it  is  well  known, 
that  no  business,  commerce,  trade,  or  employment 
whatsoever,  even  from  the  merchant  to  the  shopkeeper, 
&c.,  can  be  managed  and  carried  on  without  the  assist- 
ance of  numbers ;  for  by  these  the  trader  computes  the 
value  of  all  sorts  of  goods  that  he  dealeth  in,  does  his 


MISCELLANEOUS.  67 

business  with  ease  and  certainty,  and  informs  himself 
how  matters  stand  at  any  time  with  respect  to  men, 
money,  or  merchandise,  to  profit  and  loss,  whether  he 
goes  forward  or  backward,  grows  richer  or  poorer. 
Neither  is  this  science  only  useful  to  the  merchant,  but 
is  reckoned  the  primum  mobile  (or  first  mover)  of  all 
mundane  affairs  in  general,  and  is  useful  for  all  sorts 
and  degrees  of  men,  from  the  highest  to  the  lowest. 

As  to  the  usefulness  of  geometry,  it  is  as  certain 
that  no  curious  art,  or  mechanic  work,  can  either  be 
invented,  improved,  or  performed,  without  its  assisting 
principles. 

It  is  owing  to  this,  that  astronomers  are  put  into  a 
way  of  making  their  observations,  coming  at  the  know- 
ledge of  the  extent  of  the  heavens,  the  duration  of 
time,  the  motions,  magnitudes,  and  distances  of  the 
heavenly  bodies,  their  situations,  positions,  risings, 
settings,  aspects,  and  eclipses;  also  the  measure  of 
seasons,  of  years,  and  of  ages. 

It  is  by  the  assistance  of  this  science,  that  geogra- 
phers present  to  our  view  at  once  the  magnitude  and 
form  of  the  whole  earth,  the  vast  extent  of  the  seas, 
the  divisions  of  empires,  kingdoms,  and  provinces. 

It  is  by  the  help  of  geometry  the  ingenious  mariner 
is  instructed  how  to  guide  a  ship  through  the  vast 
ocean,  from  one  part  of  the  earth  to  another,  the 
nearest  and  safest  way,  and  in  the  shortest  time. 

By  help  of  this  science  the  architects  take  their  just 
measures  for  the  structure  of  buildings,  as  private 
houses,  churches,  palaces,  ships,  fortifications,  &,c. 

By  its  help  engineers  conduct  all  their  works,  take 
the  situation  and  plan  of  towns,  forts,  and  castles, 
measure  their  distances  from  one  another,  and  cany 
their  measures  into  places  that  are  only  accessible  to 
the  eye. 


68  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

From  hence  also  is  deduced  that  admirable  ;Tt  ol 
drawing  sun-dials  on  any  plane  howsoever  situate,  and 
for  any  part  of  the  world,  to  point  out  the  exact  time 
of  the  day,  sun's  declination,  altitude,  amplitude,  azi- 
muth, and  other  astronomical  matters. 

By  geometry  the  surveyor  is  directed  how  to  draw 
a  map  of  any  country,  to  divide  his  lands,  and  to  lay 
down  and  plot  any  piece  of  ground,  and  thereby 
discover  the  area  in  acres,  rods,  and  perches ;  the 
gauger  is  instructed  how  to  find  the  capacities  or 
solid  contents  of  all  kinds  of  vessels,  in  barrels,  gallons, 
bushels,  &,c. ;  and  the  measurer  is  furnished  with 
rules  for  finding  the  areas  and  contents  of  superficies 
and  solids,  and  casting  up  all  manner  of  workmanship. 
All  these,  and  many  more  useful  arts,  too  many  to  be 
enumerated  here,  wholly  depend  upon  the  aforesaid 
sciences,  viz.  arithmetic  and  geometry. 

This  science  is  descended  from  the  infancy  of  the 
world,  the  inventors  of  which  were  the  first  propa- 
gators of  human  kind,  as  Adam,  Noah,  Abraham, 
Moses,  and  divers  others. 

There  has  not  been  any  science  so  much  esteemed 
and  honored  as  this  of  the  mathematics,  nor  with  so 
much  industry  and  vigilance  become  the  care  of  great 
men,  and  labored  in  by  the  potentates  of  the  world, 
viz.  emperors,  kings,  princes,  &,c. 

Mathematical  demonstrations  are  a  logic  of  as  much 
or  more  use,  than  that  commonly  learned  at  schools, 
serving  to  a  just  formation  of  the  mind,  enlarging  its 
capacity,  and  strengthening  it  so  as  to  render  the  same 
capable  of  exact  reasoning,  and  discerning  truth  from 
falsehood  in  all  occurrences,  even  subjects  not  mathe- 
matical. For  which  reason  it  is  said,  the  Egyptians, 
Persians,  and  Lacedaemonians  seldom  elected  any  new 
kings,  but  such  as  had  some  knowledge  in  the  mathe- 


MISCELLANEOUS.  69 

matics,  imagining  those,  who  had  not,  men  of  imperfect 
judgments,  and  unfit  to  rule  and  govern. 

Though  Plato's  censure,  that  those  who  did  not 
understand  the  117th  proposition  of  the  13th  book  of 
Euclid's  Elements,  ought  not  to  be  ranked  amongst 
rational  creatures,  was  unreasonable  and  unjust;  yet 
to  give  a  man  the  character  of  universal  learning,  who 
is  destitute  of  a  competent  knowledge  in  the  mathe- 
matics, is  no  less  so. 

The  usefulness  of  some  particular  parts  of  the  mathe- 
matics, in  the  common  affairs  of  human  life,  has  ren- 
dered some  knowledge  of  them  very  necessary  to  a 
great  part  of  mankind,  and  very  convenient  to  all  the 
rest,  that  are  any  way  conversant  beyond  the  limits 
of  their  own  particular  callings. 

Those  whom  necessity  has  obliged  to  get  their  bread 
by  manual  industry,  where  some  degree  of  art  is  re- 
quired to  go  along  with  it,  and  who  have  had  some 
insight  into  these  studies,  have  very  often  found  ad- 
vantages from  them  sufficient  to  reward  the  pains 
they  were  at  in  acquiring  them.  And  whatever  may 
have  been  imputed  to  some  other  studies,  under  the 
notion  of  insignificancy  and  loss  of  time,  yet  these,  I 
believe,  never  caused  repentance  in  any,  except  it  was 
for  their  remissness  in  the  prosecution  of  them. 

Philosophers  do  generally  affirm  that  human  know- 
ledge to  be  most  excellent,  which  is  conversant  amongst 
the  most  excellent  things.  What  science  then  can 
there  be  more  noble,  more  excellent,  more  useful  for 
men,  more  admirably  high  and  demonstrative,  than 
this  of  the  mathematics  ? 

I  shall  conclude  with  what  Plato  says,  in  the  seventh 
book  of  his  Republic,  with  regard  to  the  excellence 
and  usefulness  of  geometry,  being  to  this  purpose ; 

"  Dear  friend ;  you  see  then  that    mathematics  are 


70  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

necessary,  because,  by  the  exactness  of  the  method, 
we  get  a  habit  of  using  our  minds  to  the  best  advan- 
tage. And  it  is  remarkable,  that,  all  men  being  capable 
by  nature  to  reason  and  understand  the  sciences,  the 
less  acute,  by  studying  this,  though  useless  to  them 
in  every  other  respect,  will  gain  this  advantage,  that 
their  minds  will  be  improved  in  reasoning  aright;  for 
no  study  employs  it  more,  nor  makes  it  susceptible  of 
attention  so  much ;  and  those,  who  we  find  have  a 
mind  worth  cultivating,  ought  to  apply  themselves  to 
this  study." 


ON   TRUE  HAPPINESS. 

FROM    THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE,    NOV.   20,    1735. 

THE  desire  of  happiness  in  general  is  so  natural  to 
us,  that  all  the  world  are  in  pursuit  of  it ;  all  have  this 
one  end  in  view,  though  they  take  such  different 
methods  to  attain  it,  and  are  so  much  divided  in  their 
notions  of  it. 

Evil,  as  evil,  can  never  be  chosen ;  and,  though  evil 
is  often  the  effect  of  our  own  choice,  yet  we  never 
desire  it,  but  under  the  appearance  of  an  imaginary 
good. 

Many  things  we  indulge  ourselves  in  may  be  con- 
sidered by  us  as  evils,  and  yet  be  desirable ;  but  then 
they  are  only  considered  as  evils  in  their  effects  and 
consequences,  not  as  evils  at  present,  and  attended 
with  immediate  misery. 

Reason  represents  things  to  us,  not  only  as  they 
are  at  present,  but  as  they  are  in  their  whole  nature 
and  tendency;  passion  only  regards  them  in  their 
former  light.  When  this  governs  us,  we  are  regardless 


MISCELLANEOUS.  71 

of  the  future,  and  are  only  affected  with  the  present. 
It  is  impossible  ever  to  enjoy  ourselves  rightly,'  if 
our  conduct  be  not  such  as  to  preserve  the  harmony 
and  order  of  our  faculties,  and  the  original  frame  and 
constitution  of  our  minds ;  all  true  happiness,  as  all 
that  is  truly  beautiful,  can  only  result  from  order. 

Whilst  there  is  a  conflict  betwixt  the  two  principles 
of  passion  and  reason,  we  must  be  miserable  in  pro- 
portion to  the  struggle ;  and  when  the  victory  is 
gained,  and  reason  so  far  subdued  as  seldom  to  trouble 
us  with  its  remonstrances,  the  happiness  we  have  then 
is  not  the  happiness  of  our  rational  nature,  but  the 
happiness  only  of  the  inferior  and  sensual  part  of  us, 
and  consequently  a  very  low  and  imperfect  happiness, 
to  what  the  other  would  have  afforded  us. 

If  we  reflect  upon  any  one  passion  and  disposition 
of  mind,  abstract  from  virtue,  we  shall  soon  see  the 
disconnexion  between  that  and  true,  solid  happiness. 
It  is  of  the  very  essence,  for  instance,  of  envy  to  be 
uneasy  and  disquieted.  Pride  meets  with  provocations 
and  disturbances  upon  almost  every  occasion.  Covet- 
ousness  is  ever  attended  with  solicitude  and  anxiety. 
Ambition  has  its  disappointments  to  sour  us,  but  never 
the  good  fortune  to  satisfy  us;  its  appetite  grows  the 
keener  by  indulgence,  and  all  we  can  gratify  it  with 
at  present  serves  but  the  more  to  inflame  its  insatia- 
ble desires. 

The  passions,  by  being  too  much  conversant  with 
earthly  objects,  can  never  fix  in  us  a  proper  composure 
and  acquiescence  of  mind.  Nothing  but  an  indiffer- 
ence to  the  things  of  this  world,  an  entire  submission 
to  the  will  of  Providence  here,  and  a  well-grounded 
expectation  of  happiness  hereafter,  can  give  us  a  true 
satisfactory  enjoyment  of  ourselves.  Virtue  is  the  best 
guard  against  the  many  unavoidable  evils  incident  to 


72  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS 

us;  nothing  better  alleviates  the  weight  of  the  afflic- 
tions, or  gives  a  truer  relish  of  the  blessings,  of  human 
life. 

What  is  without  us  has  not  the  least  connexion 
with  happiness,  only  so  far  as  the  preservation  of  our 
lives  and  health  depends  upon  it.  Health  of  body, 
though  so  far  necessary  that  we  cannot  be  perfectly 
happy  without  it,  is  not  sufficient  to  make  us  happy  of 
itself.  Happiness  springs  immediately  from  the  mind; 
health  is  but  to  be  considered  as  a  condition  or  cir- 
cumstance, without  which  this  happiness  cannot  be 
tasted  pure  and  unabated. 

Virtue  is  the  best  preservative  of  health,  as  it  pre- 
scribes temperance,  and  such  a  regulation  of  our  pas- 
sions as  is  most  conducive  to  the  well-being  of  the 
animal  economy ;  so  that  it  is,  at  the  same  time,  the 
only  true  happiness  of  the  mind,  and  the  best  means 
of  preserving  the  health  of  the  body. 

If  our  desires  are  to  the  things  of  this  world,  they 
are  never  to  be  satisfied.  If  our  great  view  is  upon 
those  of  the  next,  the  expectation  of  them  is  an  in- 
finitely higher  satisfaction  than  the  enjoyment  of  those 
of  the  present. 

There  is  no  happiness,  then,  but  in  a  virtuous  and 
self- approving  conduct.  Unless  our  actions  will  bear 
the  test  of  our  sober  judgments  and  reflections  upon 
them,  they  are  not  the  actions,  and  consequently  not 
the  happiness,  of  a  rational  being. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  73 

ON   DISCOVERIES. 

FROM    THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE,    OCT.    14,    1736. 

THE  world  but  a  few  ages  since  was  in  a  very  poor 
condition,  as  to  trade  and  navigation ;  nor  indeed  were 
they  much  better  in  other  matters  of  useful  knowledge. 
It  was  a  green-headed  time ;  every  useful  improvement 
was  hid  from  them;  they  had  neither  looked  into 
heaven  nor  earth,  into  the  sea  nor  land,  as  has  been 
done  since.  They  had  philosophy  without  experiments, 
mathematics  without  instruments,  geometry  without 
scale,  astronomy  without  demonstration. 

They  made  war  without  powder,  shot,  cannon,  or 
mortars;  nay,  the  mob  made  their  bonfires  without 
squibs  or  crackers.  They  went  to  sea  without  com- 
pass, and  sailed  without  the  needle.  They  viewed  the 
stars  without  telescopes,  and  measured  latitudes  without 
observation.  Learning  had  no  printing-press,  writing 
no  paper,  and  paper  no  ink.  The  lover  was  forced  to 
send  his  mistress  a  deal  board  for  a  love-letter,  and  a 
billet-doux  might  be  about  the  size  of  an  ordinary 
trencher.  They  were  clothed  without  manufacture, 
and  their  richest  robes  were  the  skins  of  the  most 
formidable  monsters.  They  carried  on  trade  without 
books,  and  correspondence  without  posts;  their  mer- 
chants kept  no  accounts,  their  shopkeepers  no  cash- 
books;  they  had  surgery  without  anatomy,  and  phy- 
sicians without  the  materia  medica ;  they  gave  emetics 
without  ipecacuanha,  drew  blisters  without  cantharides, 
and  cured  agues  without  the  bark. 

As  for  geographical  discoveries,  they  had  neither 
seen  the  North  Cape,  nor  the  Cape  of  Good  Hope 
south.  All  the  discovered  inhabited  world,  which  they 
knew  and  conversed  with,  was  circumscribed  within 


74  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

very  narrow  limits,  viz.  France,  Britain,  Spain,  Italy, 
Germany,  and  Greece ;  the  lesser  Asia,  the  west  part 
of  Persia,  Arabia,  the  north  parts  of  Africa,  and  the 
islands  of  the  Mediterranean  sea,  and  this  was  the 
whole  world  to  them;  not  that  even  these  countries 
were  fully  known  either,  and  several  parts  of  them  not 
inquired  into  at  all.  Germany  was  known  little  further 
than  the  banks  of  the  Elbe ;  Poland  as  little  beyond 
the  Vistula,  or  Hungary  as  little  beyond  the  Danube ; 
Muscovy  or  Russia  perfectly  unknown,  as  much  as 
China  beyond  it ;  and  India  only  by  a  little  commerce 
upon  the  coast,  about  Surat  and  Malabar.  Africa  had 
been  more  unknown,  but  by  the  ruin  of  the  Cartha- 
ginians ;  all  the  western  coast  of  it  was  sunk  out  of 
knowledge  again,  and  forgotten ;  the  northern  coast  of 
Africa,  in  the  Mediterranean,  remained  known,  and 
that  was  all ;  for  the  Saracens  overrunning  the  nations 
which  were  planted  there,  ruined  commerce,  as  well 
as  religion.  The  Baltic  sea  was  not  discovered,  nor 
even  the  navigation  of  it  known ;  for  the  Teutonic 
knights  came  not  thither  till  the  thirteenth  century. 

America  was  not  heard  of,  nor  so  much  as  a  sug- 
gestion in  the  minds  of  men  that  any  part  of  the  world 
lay  that  way.  The  coasts  of  Greenland,  or  Spits- 
bergen, and  the  whale-fishing,  not  known;  the  best 
navigators  in  the  world,  at  that  time,  would  have  fled 
from  a  whale,  with  much  more  fright  and  horror,  than 
from  the  Devil,  in  the  most  terrible  shapes  they  had 
'been  told  he  appeared  in. 

The  coasts  of  Angola,  Congo,  the  Gold  and  the 
Grain  coasts,  on  the  west  side  of  Africa,  whence,  since 
that  time,  such  immense  wealth  has  been  drawn,  not 
discovered,  nor  the  least  inquiry  made  after  them.  All 
the  East  India  and  China  trade,  not  only  undiscovered, 
but  out  of  the  reach  of  expectation !  Coffee  and  tea 


MISCELLANEOUS.  75 

(those  modern  blessings  of  mankind)  had  never  been 
heard  of.  All  the  unbounded  ocean,  we  now  call  the 
South  Sea,  was  hid  and  unknown.  All  the  Atlantic 
ocean  beyond  the  mouth  of  the  Straits,  was  frightful 
and  terrible  in  the  distant  prospect,  nor  durst  any  one 
peep  into  it,  otherwise  than  as  they  might  creep  along 
the  coast  of  Africa,  towards  Sallee,  or  Santa  Cruz. 
The  North  Sea  was  hid  in  a  veil  of  impenetrable 
darkness.  The  White  Sea,  or  Archangel,  was  a  very 
modern  discovery ;  not  found  out  till  Sir  Hugh  Wil- 
loughby  doubled  the  North  Cape,  and  paid  dear  for 
the  adventure,  being  frozen  to  death  with  all  his  crew, 
on  the  coast  of  Lapland ;  while  his  companions'  ship, 
with  the  famous  Mr.  Chancellor,  went  on  to  the  gulf 
of  Russia,  called  the  White  Sea,  where  no  Christian 
strangers  had  ever  been  before  him. 

In  these  narrow  circumstances  stood  the  world's 
knowledge  at  the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth  century, 
when  men  of  genius  began  to  look  abroad,  and  about 
them.  Now,  as  it  was  wonderful  to  see  a  world  so  full 
of  people,  and  people  so  capable  of  improving,  yet  so 
stupid  and  so  blind,  so  ignorant  and  so  perfectly  un- 
improved; it  was  wonderful  to  see,  with  what  a  general 
alacrity  they  took  the  alarm,  almost  all  together,  pre- 
paring themselves  as  it  were  on  a  sudden,  by  a  general 
inspiration,  to  spread  knowledge  through  the  earth,  and 
to  search  into  every  thing  that  it  was  possible  to  un- 
cover. 

How  surprising  is  it  to  look  back,  so  little  a  way 
behind  us,  and  see,  that  even  in  less  than  two  hundred 
years,  all  this  (now  so  self-wise)  part  of  the  world  did 
not  so  much  as  know  whether  there  was  any  such 
place  as  a  Russia,  a  China,  a  Guinea,  a  Greenland,  or 
a  North  Cape !  That  as  to  America,  it  was  never 


76  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

supposed  there  was  any  such  place ;  neither  had  the 
world,  though  they  stood  upon  the  shoulders  of  four 
thousand  years'  experience,  the  least  thought,  so  much 
as  that  there  was  any  land  that  way !  * 

As  they  were  ignorant  of  places,  so  of  things  also ; 
so  vast  are  the  improvements  of  science,  that  all  our 
knowledge  of  mathematics,  of  nature,  of  the  brightest 
part  of  human  wisdom,  had  their  admission  among  us 
within  these  two  last  centuries. 

What  was  the  world,  then,  before?  And  to  what 
were  the  heads  and  hands  of  mankind  applied  ?  The 
rich  had  no  commerce,  the  poor  no  employment;  war 
and  the  sword  was  the  great  field  of  honor,  the  stage 
of  preferment ;  and  you  have  scarce  a  man  eminent  in 
the  world  for  any  thing,  before  that  time,  but  for  a 
furious,  outrageous  falling  upon  his  fellow-creatures,  like 
Nimrod,  and  his  successors  of  modern  memory. 

The  world  is  now  daily  increasing  in  experimental 
knowledge ;  and  let  no  man  flatter  the  age,  with  pre- 
tending we  have  arrived  at  a  perfection  of  discoveries. 

What's  now  discovered,  only  serves  to  show, 
That  nothing  's  known,  to  what  is  yet  to  know. 

*  Scandinavian  literature  was  less  known  when  this  was  written  than 
at  present  The  learned  suppose,  that  the  Icelandic  SAGAS  have  thrown 
new  light  upon  the  history  of  early  discoveries,  and  that  there  is  good 
evidence  for  believing  that  the  American  continent  was  known  to  the 
Norwegians  more  than  four  hundred  years  before  the  birth  of  Colum- 
bus.—See  WHEATON'S  History  of  the  Northmen,  Chap.  II.  The  best 
opportunity  was  afforded  to  Mr.  Wheaton,  during  his  residence  in  a 
public  capacity  at  Copenhagen,  of  ascertaining  the  genuineness  and 
authenticity  of  these  ancient  records,  and  he  appears  to  place  full  con- 
fidence in  them.  His  opinion  is,  however,  that  "  the  illustrious  Genoese  " 
could  not  have  had  the  slightest  knowledge  of  the  discoveries  of  thost 
northern  adventurers,  and  that  the  colony  begun  by  them  was  probably 
cut  oft'  at  an  early  period,  in  the  same  manner  as  the  first  establish- 
ments  in  Greenland.  —  EDITOR. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  77 

THE  WASTE  OF  LIFE. 

FROM  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GAZETTE,  NOV.  18,  1736. 

ANERGUS  was  a  gentleman  of  a  good  estate;  he 
was  bred  to  no  business,  and  could  not  contrive  how 
to  waste  his  hours  agreeably;  he  had  no  relish  for 
any  of  the  proper  works  of  life,  nor  any  taste  at  all  for 
the  improvements  of  the  mind ;  he  spent  generally  ten 
hours  of  the  four-and-twenty  in  his  bed;  he  dozed 
away  two  or  three  more  on  his  couch,  and  as  many 
were  dissolved  in  good  liquor  every  evening,  if  he  met 
with  company  of  his  own  humor.  Five  or  six  of  the 
rest  he  sauntered  away  with  much  indolence ;  the  chief 
business  of  them  was  to  contrive  his  meals,  and  to  feed 
his  fancy  beforehand  with  the  promise  of  a  dinner  and 
supper ;  not  that  he  was  so  absolute  a  glutton,  or  so 
entirely  devoted  to  appetite;  but,  chiefly  because  he 
knew  not  how  to  employ  his  thoughts  better,  he  let 
them  rove  about  the  sustenance  of  his  body.  Thus 
he  had  made  a  shift  to  wear  off  ten  years  since  the 
paternal  estate  fell  into  his  hands;  and  yet,  according 
to  the  abuse  of  words  in  our  day,  he  was  called  a 
man  of  virtue,  because  he  was  scarce  ever  known  to 
be  quite  drunk,  nor  was  his  nature  much  inclined  to 
lewdness. 

One  evening,  as  he  was  musing  alone,  his  thoughts 
happened  to  take  a  most  unusual  turn,  for  they  cast 
a  glance  backward,  and  began  to  reflect  on  his  manner 
of  life.  He  bethought  himself  what  a  number  of  living 
beings  had  been  made  a  sacrifice  to  support  his  car- 
cass, and  how  much  corn  and  wine  had  been  mingled 
with  those  offerings.  He  had  not  quite  lost  all  the 
arithmetic  that  he  had  learned  when  he  was  a  boy, 


78  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

and  he  set  himself  to  compute  what  he  had  devoured 
since  he  came  to  the  age  of  man. 

"About  a  dozen  of  feathered  creatures,  small  and 
great,  have,  one  week  with  another,"  said  he,  "  given 
up  their  lives  to  prolong  mine,  which  in  ten  years 
amounts  to  at  least  six  thousand. 

"Fifty  sheep  have  been  sacrificed  in  a  year,  with 
half  a  hecatomb  of  black  cattle,  that  I  might  have  the 
choicest  part  offered  weekly  upon  my  table.  Thus  a 
thousand  beasts  out  of  the  flock  and  the  herd  have 
been  slain  in  ten  years'  time  to  feed  me,  besides  what 
the  forest  has  supplied  me  with.  Many  hundreds  of 
fishes  have,  in  all  their  varieties,  been  robbed  of  life 
for  my  repast,  and  of  the  smaller  fry  as  many  thou- 
sands. 

"A  measure  of  corn  would  hardly  afford  me  fine 
flour  enough  for  a  month's  provision,  and  this  arises 
to  above  six  score  bushels;  and  many  hogsheads  of 
ale  and  wine,  and  other  liquors,  have  passed  through 
this  body  of  mine,  this  wretched  strainer  of  meat  and 
drink. 

"And  what  have  I  done  all  this  time  for  God  or 
man  ?  What  a  vast  profusion  of  good  things  upon  a 
useless  life,  and  a  worthless  liver!  There  is  not  the 
meanest  creature  among  all  these  which  I  have  de- 
voured, but  hath  answered  the  end  of  its  creation 
better  than  I.  It  was  made  to  support  human  nature, 
and  it  hath  done  so.  Every  crab  and  oyster  I  have 
eat,  and  every  grain  of  corn  I  have  devoured,  hath 
filled  up  its  place  in  the  rank  of  beings  with  more  pro- 
priety and  honor  than  I  have  done.  O  shameful  waste 
of  life  and  time!" 

In  short,  he  carried  on  his  moral  reflections  with  so 
just  and  severe  a  force  of  reason,  as  constrained  him 
to  change  his  whole  course  of  life,  to  break  off  his 


MISCELLANEOUS.  79 

follies  at  once,  and  to  apply  himself  to  gain  some 
useful  knowledge,  when  he  was  more  than  thirty  years 
of  age.  He  lived  many  following  years,  with  the  char- 
acter of  a  worthy  man  and  an  excellent  Christian ; 
he  performed  the  kind  offices  of  a  good  neighbour  at 
home,  and  made  a  shining  figure  as  a  patriot  in  the 
senate-house ;  he  died  with  a  peaceful  conscience,  and 
the  tears  of  his  country  were  dropped  upon  his  tomb. 

The  world,  that  knew  the  whole  series  of  his  life, 
stood  amazed  at  the  mighty  change.  They  beheld  him 
as  a  wonder  of  reformation,  while  he  himself  confessed 
and  adored  the  Divine  power  and  mercy,  which  had 
transformed  him  from  a  brute  to  a  man. 

But  this  was  a  single  instance ;  and  we  may  almost 
venture  to  write  MIRACLE  upon  it.  Are  there  not  num- 
bers of  both  sexes  among  our  young  gentry,  in  this 
degenerate  age,  whose  lives  thus  run  to  utter  waste, 
without  the  least  tendency  to  usefulness? 

When  I  meet  with  persons  of  such  a  worthless 
character  as  this,  it  brings  to  my  mind  some  scraps  of 
Horace ; 

"  Nos  numerus  sumus,  et  fruges  consumere  nati, 

Alcinoique 

,     .-.-.,      juventus, 

Cui  pulchrum  fuit  in  medios  dormire  dies,"  &.c 

PARAPHRASE. 

There  are  a  number  of  us  creep 
Into  this  world,  to  eat  and  sleep ; 
And  know  no  reason  why  they  're  bom, 
But  merely  to  consume  the  corn, 
Devour  the  cattle,  fowl,  and  fish, 
And  leave  behind  an  empty  dish. 
Though  crows  and  ravens  do  the  same, 
Unlucky  birds  of  hateful  name, 
Ravens  or  crows  might  fill  their  places, 
And  swallow  corn  and  eat  carcases. 


80  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

Then,  if  their  tomb-stone,  when  they  die. 
Be  n't  taught  to  flatter  and  to  lie, 
There's  nothing  better  will  be  said, 
Than  that  they  've  eat  up  all  their  bread, 
Drunk  all  their  drink,  and  gone  to  bed. 

There  are  other  fragments  of  that  heathen  poet, 
which  occur  on  such  occasions ;  one  in  the  first  of  his 
Satires,  the  other  in  the  last  of  his  Epistles,  which 
seem  to  represent  life  only  as  a  season  of  luxury. 

"  Exacto  contentus  tempore  vita? 
Cedat,  uti  conviva  satur." 
"  Lusisti  satis,  edisti  satis,  atque  bibisti ; 
Tempus  abire  tibi  est." 

Which  may  be  thus  put  into  English. 

Life 's  but  a  feast ;  and  when  we  die, 
Horace  would  say,  if  he  were  by, 
"Friend,  thou  hast  eat. and  drunk  enough, 
'T  is  time  now  to  be  marching  off ; 
Then  like  a  well-fed  guest  depart, 
With  cheerful  looks,  and  ease  at  heart; 
Bid  all  your  friends  good  night,  and  say, 
You  've  done  the  business  of  the  day" 


NECESSARY  HINTS  TO  THOSE  THAT  WOULD  BE  RICH. 

WRITTEN    IN    THE    YEAR    1736. 

THE  use  of  money  is  all  the  advantage  there  is  in 
having  money. 

For  six  pounds  a  year  you  may  have  the  use  of 
one  hundred  pounds,  provided  you  are  a  man  of  known 
prudence  and  honesty. 

He  that  spends  a  groat  a  day  idly,  spends  idly  above 
six  pounds  a  year,  which  is  the  price  for  the  use  of 
one  hundred  pounds. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  81 

He  that  wastes  idly  a  groat's  worth  of  his  time  per 
day,  one  day  with  another,  wastes  the  privilege  of  using 
one  hundred  pounds  each  day. 

He  that  idly  loses  five  shillings'  worth  of  time,  loses 
five  shillings,  and  might  as  prudently  throw  five  shil- 
lings into  the  sea. 

He  that  loses  five  shillings,  not  only  loses  that  sum, 
but  all  the  advantage  that  might  be  made  by  turning 
it  in  dealing,  which,  by  the  time  that  a  young  man 
becomes  old,  will  amount  to  a  considerable  sum  of 
money. 

Again ;  he  that  sells  upon  credit,  asks  a  price  for 
what  he  sells  equivalent  to  the  principal  and  interest 
of  his  money  for  the  time  he  is  to  be  kept  out  of  it ; 
therefore  he  that  buys  upon  credit,  pays  interest  for 
what  he  buys,  and  he  that  pays  ready  money,  might 
let  that  money  out  to  use;  so  that  he  that  possesses 
any  thing  he  has  bought,  pays  interest  for  the  use 
of  it. 

Yet,  in  buying  goods,  it  is  best  to  pay  ready  money, 
because  he  that  sells  upon  credit,  expects  to  lose  five 
per  cent  by  bad  debts ;  therefore  he  charges,  on  all  he 
sells  upon  credit,  an  advance  that  shall  make  up  that 
deficiency. 

Those  who  pay  for  what  they  buy  upon  credit,  pay 
their  share  of  this  advance. 

He  that  pays  ready  money,  escapes,  or  may  escape, 
that  charge. 

A  penny  saved  is  two  pence  clear, 
A  pin  a  day  's  a  groat  a  year. 


VOL.    II 


82  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 


THE  WAY  TO  MAKE  MONEY  PLENTY  IN  EVERY 
MAN'S  POCKET.* 

AT  this  time,  when  the  general  complaint  is  that 
'  money  is  scarce,"  it  will  be  an  act  of  kindness  to 
inform  the  moneyless  how  they  may  reinforce  their 
pockets.  I  will  acquaint  them  with  the  true  secret  of 
money-catching,  the  certain  way  to  fill  empty  purses, 
and  how  to  keep  them  always  full.  Two  simple  rules, 
well  observed,  will  do  the  business. 

First,  let  honesty  and  industry  be  thy  constant  com- 
panions; and 

Secondly,  spend  one  penny  less  than  thy  clear  gains. 

Then  shall  thy  hide-bound  pocket  soon  begin  to 
thrive,  and  will  never  again  cry  with  the  empty  belly- 
ache; neither  will  creditors  insult  thee,  nor  want  op- 
press, nor  hunger  bite,  nor  nakedness  freeze  thee. 
The  whole  hemisphere  will  shine  brighter,  and  pleasure 
spring  up  in  every  corner  of  thy  heart.  Now,  there- 
fore, embrace  these  rules  and  be  happy.  Banish  the 
bleak  winds  of  sorrow  from  thy  mind,  and  live  inde- 
pendent. Then  shalt  thou  be  a  man,  and  not  hide 
thy  face  at  the  approach  of  the  rich,  nor  suffer  the  pain 
of  feeling  little  when  the  sons  of  fortune  walk  at  thy 
right  hand;  for  independency,  whether  with  little  or 
much,  is  good  fortune,  and  placeth  thee  on  even  ground 
with  the  proudest  of  the  golden  fleece.  Oh,  then,  be 
wise,  and  let  industry  walk  with  thee  in  the  morning, 
and  attend  thee  until  thou  reachest  the  evening  hour 

*  A  gentleman,  who  was  a  particular  friend  of  Dr.  Franklin,  and  much 
used  to  his  style  of  writing  and  conversation,  has  expressed  a  belief  to 
the  Editor,  that  this  piece  was  not  from  his  pen.  The  internal  evidence 
is  certainly  but  little  in  its  favor,  and  it  is  retained  here  chiefly  because 
it  is  comprized  in  the  edition  published  by  his  grandson,  although  there 
is  no  proof  that  he  had  any  positive  authority  for  adopting  it.  —  EDITOR. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  83 

for  rest.  Let  honesty  be  as  the  breath  of  thy  soul, 
and  never  forget  to  have  a  penny  when  all  thy  ex- 
penses are  enumerated  and  paid ;  then  shalt  thou  reach 
the  point  of  happiness,  and  independence  shall  be  thy 
shield  and  buckler,  thy  helmet  and  crown;  then  shall 
thy  soul  walk  upright,  nor  stoop  to  the  silken  wretch 
because  he  hath  riches,  nor  pocket  an  abuse  because 
the  hand  which  offers  it  wears  a  ring  set  with  dia- 
monds. 


RIVALSHIP   IN   ALMANAC-MAKING 
FROM  POOR  RICHARD'S  ALMANAC,  1742. 

COURTEOUS  READER, 

THIS  is  the  ninth  year  of  my  endeavours  to  serve 
thae  in  the  capacity  of  a  calendar- writer.  The  en- 
couragement I  have  met  with  must  be  ascribed,  in  a 
great  measure,  to  your  charity,  excited  by  the  open, 
honest  declaration  I  made  of  my  poverty  at  my  first 
appearance.  This  my  brother  Philomaths  could,  with- 
out being  conjurers,  discover ;  and  Poor  Richard's  suc- 
cess has  produced  ye  a  Poor  Will,  and  a  Poor  Robin ; 
and  no  doubt  Poor  John,  &,c.  will  follow,  and  we  shall 
all  be,  in  name,  what  some  folks  say  we  are  already 
in  fact,  a  parcel  of  poor  almanac-makers.  During  the 
course  of  these  nine  years,  what  buffetings  have  I  not 
sustained !  The  fraternity  have  been  all  in  arms. 
Honest  Titan,  deceased,  was  raised,  and  made  to  abuse 
his  old  friend.  Both  authors  and  printers  were  angry. 
Hard  names,  and  many,  were  bestowed  on  me.  They  de- 
nied me  to  be  the  author  of  my  own  works  ;  declared  there 
never  was  any  such  person ;  asserted  that  I  was  dead 
sixty  years  ago;  prognosticated  my  death  to  happen 


84  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

within  a  twelvemonth ;  with  many  other  malicious  in- 
consistencies, the  effects  of  blind  passion,  envy  at  my 
success,  and  a  vain  hope  of  depriving  me,  dear  reader, 
of  thy  wonted  countenance  and  favor.  Who  knows 
him  1  they  cry  ;  where  does  he  live  ?  But  what  is  that 
to  them  ?  If  I  delight  in  a  private  life,  have  they  any 
right  to  drag  me  out  of  my  retirement?  I  have  good 
reasons  for  concealing  the  place  of  my  abode.  It  is 
time  for  an  old  man,  as  I  am,  to  think  of  preparing  for 
his  great  remove.  The  perpetual  teasing  of  both  neigh- 
bours and  strangers  to  calculate  nativities,  give  judg- 
ments on  schemes,  and  erect  figures,  discover  thieves, 
detect  horse-stealers,  describe  the  route  of  runaways 
and  strayed  cattle ;  the  crowd  of  visiters  with  a  thou- 
sand trifling  questions,  Will  my  ship  return  safe  1  Will 
my  mare  win  the  race  1  Will  her  next  colt  be  a  pacer  ? 
When  will  my  wife  die  1  Who  shall  be  my  husband  ? 
and  HOW  LONG  first?  When  is  the  best  time  to 
cut  hair,  trim  cocks,  or  sow  sallad?  these  and  the 
like  impertinences  I  have  now  neither  taste  nor  leisure 
for.  I  have  had  enough  of  them.  All  that  these 
angry  folks  can  say,  will  never  provoke  me  to  tell  them 
where  I  live ;  I  would  eat  my  nails  first. 

My  last  adversary  is  /.  J n,  Philomat.,  who  de- 
clares and  protests  (in  his  preface,  1741),  that  the  false 
prophecy  put  in  my  Almanac,  concerning  him,  the  year 
before,  is  altogether  false  and  untrue,  and  that  I  am 
one  of  BaaVs  false  prophets.  This  false,  false  prophecy 
he  speaks  of  related  to  his  reconciliation  with  the 
church  of  Rome ;  which,  notwithstanding  his  declaring 
and  protesting,  is,  I  fear,  too  true.  Two  things  in  his 
elegiac  verses  confirm  me  in  this  suspicion.  He  calls 
the  first  of  November  Jill-Hallows  Day.  Reader,  does 
not  this  smell  of  Popery  ?  Does  it  in  the  least  savour 
of  the  pure  language  of  Friends?  But  the  plainest 


MISCELLANEOUS.  85 

thing  is  his  adoration  of  saints,  which  he  confesses  to 
be  his  practice,  in  these  words,  page  4, 

"When  any  trouble  did  me  befall, 
To  my  dear  Mary  then  I  would  call." 

Did  he  think  the  whole  world  were  so  stupid  as  not 
to  take  notice  of  this?  So  ignorant  as  not  to  know, 
that  all  Catholics  pay  the  highest  regard  to  the  Virgin 
Mary?  Ah,  friend  John,  we  must  allow  you  to  be 
a  poet,  but  you  are  certainly  no  Protestant.  I  could 
heartily  wish  your  religion  were  as  good  as  your 
verses. 

RICHARD  SAUNDERS.* 

*  Some  parts  of  this  humorous  Piece  will  be  explained  by  the  follow- 
ing address,  contained  in  Poor  Richard's  JUmanac  for  the  year  1736. 
"  LOVING  READERS, 

"  Your  kind  acceptance  of  my  former  labors  has  encouraged  me  to 
continue  writing,  though  the  general  approbation  you  have  been  so  good 
as  to  favor  me  with  has  excited  the  envy  of  some,  and  drawn  upon  me 
the  malice  of  others.  These  ill-willers  of  mine,  despited  at  the  great 
reputation  I  gained  by  exactly  predicting  another  man's  death,  have  en- 
deavoured to  deprive  me  of  it  all  at  once  in  the  most  effectual  manner, 
by  reporting  that  I  myself  was  never  alive.  They  say  in  short,  That  there 
is  no  such  man  as  I  am ;  and  have  spread  this  notion  so  thoroughly  in 
the  country,  that  I  have  been  frequently  told  it  to  my  face  by  those 
that  don't  know  me.  This  is  not  civil  treatment,  to  endeavour  to  deprive 
me  of  my  very  being,  and  reduce  me  to  a  nonentity  in  the  opinion  of  the 
public.  But  so  long  as  I  know  myself  to  walk  about,  eat,  drink,  and 
sleep,  I  am  satisfied  that  there  is  really  such  a  man  as  I  am,  whatever 
they  may  say  to  the  contrary.  And  the  world  may  be  satisfied  likewise ; 
for  if  there  were  no  such  man  as  I  am,  how  is  it  possible  I  should  ap- 
pear publicly  to  hundreds  of  people,  as  I  have  done  for  several  years 
past,  in  print?  I  need  not,  indeed,  have  taken  any  notice  of  so  idle  a 
report,  if  it  had  not  been  for  the  sake  of  my  printer,  to  whom  my  enemies 
are  pleased  to  ascribe  my  productions  ;  and  who,  it  seems,  is  as  unwilling 
to  father  my  offspring,  as  I  am  to  lose  the  credit  of  it.  Therefore  to  clear 
him  entirely,  as  well  as  to  vindicate  my  own  honor,  I  make  this  public  and 
serious  declaration,  which  I  desire  may  be  believed,  to  wit,  that  what  1 
have  ivritten  heretofore,  and  do  noiv  write,  neither  was  nor  is  written  by  any 
other  man  or  men,  person  or  persons,  whatsoever.  Those  who  are  not  satis- 
fied with  this,  must  needs  be  very  unreasonable. 

"  My  performance  for  this  year  follows.  It  submits  itself,  kind  reader,  to 
thy  censure,  but  hopes  for  thy  candor  to  forgive  its  faults  It  devotes 


86  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

RULES  OF  HEALTH. 
FROM  POOR  RICHARD'S  ALMANAC,  1742. 

EAT  and  drink  such  an  exact  quantity  as  the  con- 
stitution of  thy  body  allows  of,  in  reference  to  the 
services  of  the  mind. 

They  that  study  much,  ought  not  to  eat  so  much 
as  those  that  work  hard,  their  digestion  being  not  so 
good. 

The  exact  quantity  and  quality,  being  found  out,  is 
to  be  kept  to  constantly. 

Excess  in  all  other  things  whatever,  as  well  as  in 
meat  and  drink,  is  also  to  be  avoided. 

Youth,  age,  and  the  sick,  require  a  different  quantity. 

And  so  do  those  of  contrary  complexions;  for  that 
which  is  too  much  for  a  phlegmatic  man,  is  not  suffi- 
cient for  a  choleric. 

The  measure  of  food  ought  to  be  (as  much  as  pos- 
sibly may  be)  exactly  proportionable  to  the  quality 
and  condition  of  the  stomach,  because  the  stomach 
digests  it. 

That  quantity  that  is  sufficient,  the  stomach  can 
perfectly  concoct  and  digest,  and  it  sufficeth  the  due 
nourishment  of  the  body. 

A   greater   quantity   of  some  things  may  be   eaten 

itself  entirely  to  thy  service,  and  will  serve  thee  faithfully.  And  if  it  has 
the  good  fortune  to  please  its  master,  't  is  gratification  enough  for  the 
labor  of  Poor  R.  SAUWDERS." 

It  was  by  addresses  of  this  sort,  seasoned  by  a  little  humor,  (not  always, 
it  is  true,  of  the  most  refined  quality,  but  suited  to  the  general  taste  of  the 
times,)  that  he  won  the  attention  of  his  readers,  and  prepared  them  to 
listen  with  approbation  to  the  graver  counsels  of  wisdom,  and  lessons  of 
economy  and  virtue,  which  abounded  in  Poor  Richard's  Almanac,  and 
gained  for  it  an  unprecedented  circulation.  —  EDITOR. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  87 

than  of  others,  some  being  of  lighter  digestion  than 
others. 

The  difficulty  lies  in  finding  out  an  exact  measure ; 
but  eat  for  necessity,  not  pleasure ;  for  lust  knows  not 
where  necessity  ends. 

Wouldst  thou  enjoy  a  long  life,  a  healthy  body,  and 
a  vigorous  mind,  and  be  acquainted  also  with  the 
wonderful  works  of  God,  labor  in  the  first  place  to 
bring  thy  appetite  to  reason. 


ADVICE  TO  A  YOUNG  TRADESMAN. 

WRITTEN    IN    THE    YEAR    1748. 

To  MY  FRIEJVD,  A.  B. 

As  you  have  desired  it  of  me,  I  write  the  following 
hints,  which  have  been  of  service  to  me,  and  may,  if 
observed,  be  so  to  you. 

Remember,  that  time  is  money.  He  that  can  earn 
ten  shillings  a  day  by  his  labor,  and  goes  abroad,  or 
sits  idle,  one  half  of  that  day,  though  he  spends  but 
sixpence  during  his  diversion  or  idleness,  ought  not  to 
reckon  that  the  only  expense ;  he  has  really  spent,  or 
rather  thrown  away,  five  shillings  besides. 

Remember,  that  credit  is  money.  If  a  man  lets  his 
money  lie  in  my  hands  after  it  is  due,  he  gives  me 
the  interest,  or  so  much  as  I  can  make  of  it  during 
that  time.  This  amounts  to  a  considerable  sum  where 
a  man  has  good  and  large  credit,  and  makes  good  use 
of  it. 

Remember,  that  money  is  of  the  prolific,  generating 
nature.  Money  can  beget  money,  and  its  offspring  can 
beget  more,  and  so  on.  Five  shillings  turned  is  six, 
turned  again  it  is  seven  and  three-pence,  and  so  on 


88  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

till  it  becomes  an  hundred  pounds.  The  more  there 
is  of  it,  the  more  it  produces  every  turning,  so  that 
the  profits  rise  quicker  and  quicker.  He  that  kills  a 
breeding  sow,  destroys  all  her  offspring  to  the  thou- 
sandth generation.  He  that  murders  a  crown,  destroys 
all  that  it  might  have  produced,  even  scores  of  pounds. 

Remember,  that  six  pounds  a  year  is  but  a  groat 
a  day.  For  this  little  sum  (which  may  be  daily  wasted 
either  in  time  or  expense  unperceived)  a  man  of  credit 
may,  on  his  own  security,  have  the  constant  possession 
and  use  of  an  hundred  pounds.  So  much  in  stock, 
briskly  turned  by  an  industrious  man,  produces  great 
advantage. 

Remember  this  saying,  The  good  paymaster  is  lord 
of  another  man's  purse.  He  that  is  known  to  pay 
punctually  and  exactly  to  the  time  he  promises,  may 
at  any  time,  and  on  any  occasion,  raise  all  the  money 
his  friends  can  spare.  This  is  sometimes  of  great  use. 
After  industry  and  frugality,  nothing  contributes  more 
to  the  raising  of  a  young  man  in  the  world  than  punc- 
tuality and  justice  in  all  his  dealings;  therefore  never 
keep  borrowed  money  an  hour  beyond  the  time  you 
promised,  lest  a  disappointment  shut  up  your  friend's 
purse  for  ever. 

The  most  trifling  actions  that  affect  a  man's  credit 
are  to  be  regarded.  The  sound  of  your  hammer  at 
five  in  the  morning,  or  nine  at  night,  heard  by  a  cred- 
itor, makes  him  easy  six  months  longer;  but,  if  he 
sees  you  at  a  billiard-table,  or  hears  your  voice  at  a 
tavern,  when  you  should  be  at  work,  he  sends  for  his 
money  the  next  day ;  demands  it,  before  he  can  re- 
ceive it,  in  a  lump. 

It  shows,  besides,  that  you  are  mindful  of  what  you 
owe ;  it  makes  you  appear  a  careful  as  well  as  an 
honest  man,  and  that  still  increases  your  credit. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  89 

Beware  of  thinking  all  your  own  that  you  possess, 
and  of  living  accordingly.  It  is  a  mistake  that  many 
people  who  have  credit  fall  into.  To  prevent  this, 
keep  an  exact  account  for  some  time,  both  of  your 
expenses  and  your  income.  If  you  take  the  pains  at 
first  to  mention  particulars,  it  will  have  this  good  effect; 
you  will  discover  how  wonderfully  small,  trifling  ex- 
penses mount  up  to  large  sums,  and  will  discern  what 
might  have  been,  and  may  for  the  future  be  saved, 
without  occasioning  any  great  inconvenience. 

In  short,  the  way  to  wealth,  if  you  desire  it,  is  as 
plain  as  the  way  to  market.  It  depends  chiefly  on 
two  words,  industry  and  frugality ;  that  is,  waste 
neither  time  nor  money,  but  make  the  best  use  of  both. 
Without  industry  and  frugality  nothing  will  do,  and 
with  them  every  thing.  He  that  gets  all  he  can  hon- 
estly, and  saves  all  he  gets  (necessary  expenses  ex- 
cepted),  will  certainly  become  n'c/i,  if  that  Being  who 
governs  the  world,  to  whom  all  should  look  for  a 
blessing  on  their  honest  endeavours,  doth  not,  in  his 
wise  providence,  otherwise  determine. 

AN  OLD  TRADESMAN. 


PLAN  FOR  SAVING  ONE  HUNDRED  THOUSAND  POUNDS. 
FROM  POOR  RICHARD'S  ALMANAC,  1756. 

As  I  spent  some  weeks  last  winter  in  visiting  my 
old  acquaintance  in  the  Jerseys,  great  complaints  I 
heard  for  want  of  money,  and  that  leave  to  make  more 
paper  bills  could  not  be  obtained.  Friends  and  Coun- 
trymen ;  my  advice  on  this  head  shall  cost  you  nothing  ; 
and,  if  you  will  not  be  angry  with  me  for  giving  it,  I 
promise  you  not  to  be  offended  if  you  do  not  take  it. 


90  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

You  spend  yearly  at  least  two  hundred  thousand 
pounds,  it  is  said,  in  European,  East-Indian,  and  West- 
Indian  commodities.  Supposing  one  half  of  this  ex- 
pense to  be  in  things  absolutely  necessary,  the  other 
half  may  be  called  superfluities,  or,  at  best,  conven- 
iences, which,  however,  you  might  live  without  for  one 
little  year,  and  not  suffer  exceedingly.  Now,  to  save 
this  half,  observe  these  few  directions. 

1.  When  you  incline  to  have  new  clothes,  look  first 
well  over  the  old  ones,  and  see  if  you  cannot  shift  with 
them  another  year,  either  by  scouring,  mending,  or  even 
patching  if  necessary.     Remember,    a   patch    on  your 
coat,  and  money  in  your  pocket,    is   better  and  more 
creditable,  than  a  writ  on  your  back,  and  no  money  to 
take  it  off. 

2.  When  you  incline  to  buy  China  ware,  chintzes, 
India  silks,  or  any  other  of  their  flimsy,  slight  manufac- 
tures, I  would   not  be  so  hard  with  you,  as  to  insist 
on  your  absolutely  resolving  against  it ;  all  I  advise  is, 
to  put  it  off  (as  you  do  your  repentance)  till  another 
year;    and    this,   in    some   respects,   may   prevent   an 
occasion  of  repentance. 

3.  If  you  are  now  a  drinker  of  punch,  wine,  or  tea, 
twice   a   day,    for   the  ensuing    year  drink  them  but 
once  a  day.     If  you  now  drink  them  but  once  a  day, 
do  it  but  every  other  day.     If  you  do  it  now  but  once 
a  week,  reduce  the  practice  to  once  a  fortnight.     And, 
if  you  do   not   exceed   in  quantity  as  you  lessen  the 
times,  half  your  expense  in  these  articles  will  be  saved. 

4.  When  you  incline  to  drink    rum,   fill   the   glass 
half  with  water. 

Thus  at  the  year's  end,  there  will  be  a  hundred 
thousand  pounds  more  money  in  your  country. 

If  paper  money  in  ever  so  great  a  quantity  could  be 
made,  no  man  could  get  any  of  it  without  giving  some- 


MISCELLANEOUS.  91 

thing  for  it.  But  all  he  saves  in  this  way,  will  be  his 
own  for  nothing,  and  his  countiy  actually  so  much 
richer.  Then  the  merchants'  old  and  doubtful  debts 
may  be  honestly  paid  off,  and  trading  become  surer 
thereafter,  if  not  so  extensive.* 

*  The  humor  and  quaintness  of  POOR  RICHARD  sometimes  appeared  in 
the  advertisements,  setting  forth  the  contents  of  his  Almanacs.  The 
following  is  from  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  November  6th,  1755. 

"  Next  week  will  be  published,  and  sold  by  the  printers  hereof,  POOR 
RICHARD'S  ALMANAC  for  1756,  containing,  besides  the  usual  astronomical 
calculations,  a  variety  of  useful  and  entertaining  observations ;  viz.  How 
Pennsylvania  may  save  three  millions  two  hundred  and  eighty  thousand 
pounds  in  seven  years,  of  which  every  farmer  may,  if  he  pleases,  have 
his  share  ;  the  praises  of  astronomy ;  the  praises  of  religion ;  conversation, 
rules  to  be  agreeable  in  it ;  how  New  Jersey  may  clear  one  hundred 
thousand  pounds  in  the  year  1756 ;  the  advantage  of  temperance  in  pro- 
moting men  to  high  stations  ;  the  distinguishing  honors  conferred  by  God 
on  men  industrious  in  their  calling ;  rule  to  prevent  malignant  fevers  or 
fluxes ;  Newton's  eulogy ;  noble  character  of  a  general ;  difference  be- 
tween a  person  of  honor,  and  a  man  of  honor ;  settlement  of  a  man's 
moral  accounts ;  how  to  feed  sixty  thousand  men  at  2s.  8d.  a  day ;  proper 
victualling  for  long  marches  in  the  woods ;  excellent  remedies  for  the 
cure  of  fluxes,  dry  gripes,  and  fevers,  &-c.  &c.  &c." 

It  will  be  recollected,  that  the  parts  relating  to  the  feeding  and  march- 
ing of  armies  were  applicable  to  the  times.  The  French  and  Indian  war 
was  then  raging  on  the  frontiers  of  all  the  colonies.  The  hint  respecting 
the  "  settlement  of  a  man's  moral  accounts  "  is  found  at  the  beginning 
of  the  month  of  December. 

"  Well,  my  friend,  thou  art  now  just  entering  the  last  month  of  another 
year.  If  thou  art  a  man  of  business,  and  of  prudent  care,  belike  thou  wilt 
settle  thy  accounts,  to  satisfy  thyself  whether  thou  hast  gained  or  lost 
in  the  year  past,  and  how  much  of  either,  the  better  to  regulate  thy 
future  industry  or  thy  common  expenses.  This  is  commendable.  But 
it  is  not  all.  Wilt  thou  not  examine  also  thy  moral  accounts,  and  see 
what  improvements  thou  hast  made  in  the  conduct  of  life,  what  vice  sub- 
dued, what  virtue  acquired ;  how  much  better,  and  how  much  uriser,  as 
well  as  how  much  richer,  thou  art  grown  ?  '  What  shall  it  profit  a  man, 
if  he  gain  the  whole  world,  and  lose  his  own  soul  ? '  Without  some  care 
in  this  matter,  though  thou  mayest  come  to  count  ihy  thousands,  thou 
wilt  possibly  still  appear  poor  in  the  eyes  of  the  discerning,  even  here, 
and  be  really  so  for  ever  hereafter"  —  EDITOR. 


92  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 


THE  WAY  TO  WEALTH, 

AS    CLEARLY    SHOWN    IN    THE    PREFACE    OF    AN    OLD    PENNSYLVANIA 
ALMANAC,    ENTITLED,    "  POOR    RICHARD    IMPROVED." 


FEW  compositions  in  any  language  have  been  so  widely  read, 
as  this  summary  of  the  maxims  and  proverbs  of  Poor  Richard. 
The  following  account  is  given  of  it  by  Dr.  Franklin,  in  his 
Memoirs. 

"  In  1732  I  first  published  my  Almanac  under  the  name  of 
Richard  Sounders ;  it  was  continued  by  me  about  twenty-five 
years,  and  commonly  called  Poor  Richard's  Almanac.  I  endeav- 
oured to  make  it  both  entertaining  and  useful,  and  it  accordingly 
came  to  be  in  such  demand,  that  1  reaped  considerable  profit 
from  it,  vending  annually  near  ten  thousand.  And  observing  that 
it  was  generally  read,  (scarce  any  neighbourhood  in  the  province 
being  without  it,)  I  considered  it  as  a  proper  vehicle  for  conveying 
instruction  among  the  common  people,  who  bought  scarcely  any 
other  books.  I  therefore  filled  all  the  little  spaces,  that  occurred 
between  the  remarkable  days  in  the  Calendar,  with  proverbial 
sentences,  chiefly  such  as  inculcated  industry  and  frugality,  as 
the  means  of  procuring  wealth,  and  thereby  securing  virtue ;  it 
being  more  difficult  for  a  man  in  want  to  act  always  honestly,  as 
(to  use  here  one  of  those  proverbs)  '  It  is  hard  for  an  empty  trick 
to  stand  upright.'  These  proverbs,  which  contained  the  wisdom 
of  many  ages  and  nations,  I  assembled  and  formed  into  a  con- 
nected discourse,  prefixed  to  the  Almanac  of  1757,  as  the  harangue 
of  a  wise  old  man  to  the  people  attending  an  auction.  The  bringing 
all  these  scattered  counsels  thus  into  a  focus,  enabled  them  to  make 
greater  impression.  The  piece,  being  universally  approved,  was 
copied  in  all  the  newspapers  of  the  American  Continent,  reprinted 
in  Britain  on  a  large  sheet  of  paper  to  be  stuck  up  in  houses  ; 
two  translations  were  made  of  it  in  France,  and  great  numbers 
bought  by  the  clergy  and  gentry,  to  distribute  gratis  among  their 
poor  parishioners  and  tenants.  In  Pennsylvania,  as  it  discouraged 
useless  expense  in  foreign  superfluities,  some  thought  it  had  its 
share  of  influence  in  producing  that  growing  plenty  of  money, 
which  was  observable  for  several  years  after  its  publication." 


MISCELLANEOUS.  93 

In  more  recent  times  the  piece  has  hardly  been  less  popular. 
It  is  suited,  indeed,  to  every  country,  and  to  all  states  of  society. 
There  have  been,  at  least,  three  translations  made  of  it  into 
French.  The  first  is  contained  in  M.  Dubourg's  GEuvres  de 
Franklin,  published  in  two  volumes,  quarto,  at  Paris,  in  1773.  It 
is  there  entitled  Lc  Moycn  de  s'enrichir ;  and  the  translator  call? 
the  Almanac-maker  Le  Pauvre  Henri  a  son  aise,  to  avoid,  as  Mr. 
Vaughan  suggests,  the  jiu  de  mots,  which  would  have  occurred 
if  he  had  written,  Le  Pauvre  Richard.  However  this  may  be, 
M.  Dubourg  has  rendered  the  sense  of  his  author  with  much 
fidelity.  The  next  version  was  by  Quetant,  a  second  edition  of 
which  appeared  in  1778;  and  an  improved  edition  in  1794,  to 
which  M.  Ginguene  prefixed  an  abridged  life  of  the  author.  The 
title  given  in  this  version  is  La  Science  du  Bonhomme  Richard; 
Ou  Moyen  Facile  de  payer  les  Impots.  A  beautiful  edition  of  the 
same,  in  connexion  with  the  English,  was  printed  at  Dijon  in 
1795.  This  translation  is  diffuse,  and  less  faithful  than  that  of 
Dubourg.  Not  satisfied  with  either  of  them,  Castera  made  a  new 
one,  entitled  Le  Cheniin  de  la  Fortune;  Ou  La  Science  du  Bon- 
homme Richard,  which  is  among  the  other  writings  of  Franklin, 
translated  by  him,  and  published  in  two  volumes,  at  Paris,  in 
1798.  This  is  a  closer  version  than  that  of  Quetant,  and  per- 
haps more  elegant  than  Dubourg's ;  which,  however,  conforms  more 
nearly  to  the  meaning  and  spirit  of  the  original,  than  either  of 
the  others. 

A  translation  of  "  Poor  Richard"  in  modern  Greek  was  printed 
at  Didot's  press,  in  Paris,  in  the  year  1823,  entitled '//  'J^THOT^I) 
TOV  Kn^ov  ' Pi%t<()dov,  uvvTt&iiaa  vno  TOV  B.  <I>Qayx}.ivov.  A  brief 
account  of  the  author's  life  in  the  same  language  is  prefixed. 

Some  copies  of  THE  WAY  TO  WEALTH  begin  in  the  following 
manner. 

"  I  have  heard,  that  nothing  gives  an  author  so  great  pleasure  as 
to  find  his  works  respectfully  quoted  by  other  learned  authors.  This 
pleasure  I  have  seldom  enjoyed ;  for,  though  I  have  been,  if  I  may 
say  it  without  vanity,  an  eminent  author  (of  Almanacs)  annually 
now  a  full  quarter  of  a  century,  my  brother  authors  in  the  same 
way,  for  what  reason  I  know  not,  have  ever  been 'very  sparing  in 
their  applauses ;  and  no  other  author  has  taken  the  least  notice  of 
me ;  so  that,  did  not  my  writings  produce  me  some  solid  pudding, 
the  great  deficiency  of  praise  would  have  quite  discouraged  me.  I 
concluded,  at  length,  that  the  people  were  the  best  judges  of  my 
merit,  for  they  buy  my  works ;  and  besides,  in  my  rambles,  where 


94  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

I  am  not  personally  known,  I  have  frequently  heard  one  or  othei 
of  my  adages  repeated,  with  '  As  poor  Richard  says,'  at  the  end 
on't.  This  gave  me  some  satisfaction,  as  it  showed  not  only  that 
my  instructions  were  regarded,  but  discovered  likewise  some  re- 
spect for  my  authority  ;  and  I  own,  that,  to  encourage  the  prac- 
tice of  remembering  and  reading  those  wise  sentences,  I  have 
sometimes  quoted  myself  with  great  gravity.  Judge,  then,  &LC.'' 

This  paragraph  is  now  seldom  inserted.  Indeed  it  was  omitted 
in  Mr.  Vaughan's  edition,  which  was  printed  with  the  knowledge 
and  approbation  of  the  author.  Nor  is  it  contained  in  Dubourg's 
translation,  which  appeared  earlier;  out  it  is  found  in  the  version 
by  Quetant,  and  is  retained  in  the  beautiful  Dijon  edition.  It  has 
passed  thence  into  the  modern  Greek.  —  EDITOR. 


COURTEOUS  READER, 

I  HAVE  heard,  that  nothing  gives  an  author  so  great 
pleasure  as  to  find  his  works  respectfully  quoted  by 
others.  Judge,  then,  how  much  I  must  have  been 
gratified  by  an  incident  I  am  going  to  relate  to  you. 
I  stopped  my  horse  lately,  where  a  great  number  of 
people  were  collected  at  an  auction  of  merchants' 
goods.  The  hour  of  the  sale  not  being  come,  they 
were  conversing  on  the  badness  of  the  times ;  and  one 
of  the  company  called  to  a  plain,  clean,  old  man,  with 
white  locks,  "  Pray,  Father  Abraham,  what  think  you 
of  the  times?  Will  not  these  heavy  taxes  quite  ruin 
the  country  ?  How  shall  we  ever  be  able  to  pay  them  ? 
What  would  you  advise  us  to?"  Father  Abraham 
stood  up,  and  replied,  "  If  you  would  have  my  advice, 
I  will  give  it  you  in  short ;  for  A  word  to  the  wise  is 
enough,  as  Poor  Richard  says."  They  joined  in  desir- 
ing him  to  speak  his  mind,  and  gathering  round  him, 
he  proceeded  as  follows. 

"  Friends,"  said  he,  "  the  taxes  are  indeed  very 
heavy,  and,  if  those  laid  on  by  the  government  were 
the  only  ones  we  had  to  pay,  we  might  more  easily 


MISCELLANEOUS.  95 

discharge  them ;  but  we  have  many  others,  and  much 
more  grievous  to  some  of  us.  We  are  taxed  twice  as 
much  by  our  idleness,  three  times  as  much  by  our 
pride,  and  four  times  as  much  by  our  folly ;  and  from 
these  taxes  the  commissioners  cannot  ease  or  deliver 
us,  by  allowing  an  abatement.  However,  let  us  hearken 
to  good  advice,  and  something  may  be  done  for  us ; 
God  helps  them  that  help  themselves,  as  Poor  Richard 
says. 

"I.  It  would  be  thought  a  hard  government,  that 
should  tax  its  people  one-tenth  part  of  their  time,  to 
be  employed  in  its  service;  but  idleness  taxes  many 
of  us  much  more ;  sloth,  by  bringing  on  diseases,  ab- 
solutely shortens  life.  Sloth,  like  rust,  consumes  faster 
than  labor  wears ;  while  the  used  key  is  always  bright, 
as  Poor  Richard  says.  But  dost  thou  love  life,  then  do 
not  squander  time,  for  that  is  the  stuff  life  is  made  of, 
as  Poor  Richard  says.  How  much  more  than  is  neces- 
sary do  we  spend  in  sleep,  forgetting,  that  The  sleeping 
fox  catches  no  poultry,  and  that  There  will  be  sleeping 
enough  in  the  grave,  as  Poor  Richard  says. 

"  If  time  be  of  all  things  the  most  precious,  wasting 
time  must  be,  as  Poor  Richard  says,  the  greatest  pro- 
digality ;  since,  as  he  elsewhere  tells  us,  Lost  time  is 
never  found  again;  and  what  we  call  time  enough, 
always  proves  little  enough.  Let  us  then  up  and  be 
doing,  and  doing  to  the  purpose ;  so  by  diligence  shall 
we  do  more  with  less  perplexity.  Sloth  makes  all 
things  difficult,  but  industry  all  easy ;  and  He  that  riseth 
late  must  trot  all  day,  and  sliall  scarce  overtake  his 
business  at  night ;  while  Laziness  travels  so  slowly, 
that  Poverty  soon  overtakes  him.  Drive  thy  business, 
let  not  that  drive  thee  ;  and  Early  to  bed,  and  early  to 
rise,  makes  a  man  healthy,  wealthy,  and  wise,  as  Poor 
Richard  says. 


96  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

"  So  what  signifies  wishing  and  hoping  for  better 
times  ?  We  may  make  these  times  better,  if  we  bestir 
ourselves.  Industry  need  not  wish,  and  he  that  lives 
upon  hopes  will  die  fasting.  There  are  no  gains  with- 
out pains ;  then  help,  hands,  for  I  have  no  lands  ;  or, 
if  I  have,  they  are  smartly  taxed.  He  that  hath  a  trade 
hath  an  estate  ;  and  he  that  hath  a  calling,  hath  an  office 
of  profit  and  honor,  as  Poor  Richard  says;  but  then 
the  trade  must  be  worked  at,  and  the  calling  followed, 
or  neither  the  estate  nor  the  office  will  enable  us  to  pay 
our  taxes.  If  we  are  industrious,  we  shall  never  starve ; 
for,  Jit  the  working  man's  house  hunger  looks  in,  but 
dares  not  enter.  Nor  will  the  bailiff  or  the  constable 
enter,  for  Industry  pays  debts,  while  despair  increaseth 
them.  What  though  you  have  found  no  treasure,  nor 
has  any  rich  relation  left  you  a  legacy,  Diligence  is  the 
mother  of  good  luck,  and  God  gives  all  things  to  in- 
dustry. Then  plough  deep  while  sluggards  sleep,  and 
you  shall  have  corn  to  sell  and  to  keep.  Work  while 
it  is  called  to-day,  for  you  know  not  how  much  you 
may  be  hindered  to-morrow.  One  to-day  is  worth  two 
to-morroivs,  as  Poor  Richard  says ;  and  further,  Never 
leave  that  till  to-morrow,  which  you  can  do  to-day.  If 
you  were  a  servant,  would  you  not  be  ashamed  that 
a  good  master  should  catch  you  idle  ?  Are  you  then 
your  own  master  ?  Be  ashamed  to  catch  yourself  idle, 
when  there  is  so  much  to  be  done  for  yourself,  your 
family,  your  country,  and  your  king.  Handle  your  tools 
without  mittens ;  remember,  that  The  cat  in  gloves 
catches  no  mice,  as  Poor  Richard  says.  It  is  true  there 
is  much  to  be  done,  and  perhaps  you  are  weak-handed ; 
but  stick  to  it  steadily,  and  you  will  see  great  effects  ; 
for  Constant  dropping  wears  away  stones  ;  and  By  dili- 
gence and  patience  the  mouse  ate  in  two  the  cable ;  and 
Little  strokes  fell  great  oaks. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  97 

"  Methinks  I  hear  some  of  you  say,  '  Must  a  man 
afford  himself  no  leisure  ? '  I  will  tell  thee,  my  friend, 
what  Poor  Richard  says,  Employ  thy  time  well,  if  thou 
meanest  to  gain  leisure  ;  and,  since  thou  art  not  sure  of 
a  minute,  throw  not  away  an  hour.  Leisure  is  time 
for  doing  something  useful ;  this  leisure  the  diligent 
man  will  obtain,  but  the  lazy  man  never ;  for  Jl  life 
of  leisure  and  a  life  of  laziness  are  two  things.  Many, 
without  labor,  would  live  by  their  wits  only,  but  they 
break  for  want  of  stock  ;  whereas  industry  gives  com- 
fort, and  plenty,  and  respect.  Fly  pleasures,  and  they 
will  follow  you.  The  diligent  spinner  has  a  large  shift ; 
and  now  I  have  a  sheep  and  a  cow,  everybody  bids  me 
good  morrow. 

"  II.  But  with  our  industry  we  must  likewise  be 
steady,  settled,  and  careful,  and  oversee  our  own 
affairs  with  our  own  eyes,  and  not  trust  too  much  to 
others ;  for,  as  Poor  Richard  says, 

T  never  saw  an  oft-removed  tree, 

Nor  yet  an  oft-removed  family, 

That  throve  so  well  as  those  that  settled  be. 

And  again,  Three  removes  are  as  bad  as  a  fire ;  and 
again,  Keep  thy  shop,  and  thy  shop  will  keep  thee ;  and 
again,  If  you  would  have  your  business  done,  go  ;  if  not, 
send.  And  again, 

He  that  by  the  plough  would  thrive, 
Himself  must  either  hold  or  drive. 

And  again,  The  eye  of  a  master  will  do  more  work 
than  both  his  hands ;  and  again,  Want  of  care  does  us 
more  damage  than  want  of  knowledge ;  and  again,  JVbr 
to  oversee  workmen,  is  to  leave  them  your  purse  open. 
Trusting  too  much  to  others'  care  is  the  ruin  of  many ; 
for  In  the  affairs  of  this  world  men  are  saved,  not  by 
faith,  but  by  the  want  of  it ;  but  a  man's  own  care  is 
profitable ;  for,  If  you  would  have  a  faithful  servant,  and 

VOL.    II.  7 


98  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

one  that  you  like,  serve  yourself.  Jl  little  neglect  mm/ 
breed  great  mischief;  for  want  of  a  nail  the  shoe  was 
lost ;  for  want  of  a  shoe  the  horse  was  lost ;  and  for 
want  of  a  horse  the  rider  was  lost,  being  overtaken  and 
slain  by  the  enemy ;  all  for  want  of  a  little  care  about 
a  horse-shoe  nail. 

"III.  So  much  for  industry,  my  friends,  and  atten- 
tion to  one's  own  business ;  but  to  these  we  must 
add  frugality,  if  we  would  make  our  industry  more 
certainly  successful.  A  man  may,  if  he  knows  not 
how  to  save  as  he  gets,  keep  his  nose  all  his  life  to  the 
grindstone,  and  die  not  worth  a  groat  at  last.  Jl  fat 
kitchen  makes  a  lean  will ;  and 

Many  estates  are  spent  in  the  getting, 

Since  women  for  tea  forsook  spinning  and  knitting, 

And  men  for  punch  forsook  hewing  and  splitting. 

If  you  would  be  wealthy,  think  of  saving  as  well  as 
of  getting.  The  Indies  have  not  made  Spain  rich, 
because  her  outgoes  are  greater  than  her  incomes. 

"Away  then  with  your  expensive  follies,  and  you 
will  not  then  have  so  much  cause  to  complain  of  hard 
times,  heavy  taxes,  and  chargeable  families ;  for 

Women  and  wine,  game  and  deceit, 

Make  the  wealth  small  and  the  want  great. 

And  further,  What  maintains  one  vice  would  bring  up 
two  children.  You  may  think,  perhaps,  that  a  little 
tea,  or  a  little  punch  now  and  then,  diet  a  little  more 
costly,  clothes  a  little  finer,  and  a  little  entertainment 
now  and  then,  can  be  no  great  matter ;  but  remem- 
ber, Many  a  little  makes  a  mickle.  Beware  of  little 
expenses  ;  Jl  small  leak  will  sink  a  great  ship,  as  Poor 
Richard  says ;  and  again,  Who  dainties  love,  shall 
beggars  prove ;  and  moreover,  Fools  make  feasts,  and 
wise  men  eat  them. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  99 

"  Here  you  are  all  got  together  at  this  sale  of  fineries 
and  knick-knacks.  You  call  them  goods  ;  but,  if  you  do 
not  take  care,  they  will  prove  evils  to  some  of  you.  You 
expect  they  will  be  sold  cheap,  and  perhaps  they  may 
for  less  than  they  cost ;  but,  if  you  have  no  occasion 
for  them,  they  must  be  dear  to  you.  Remember  what 
Poor  Richard  says;  Buy  what  thou  hast  no  need  of, 
and  ere  long  thou  shalt  sell  thy  necessaries.  And 
again,  Jit  a  great  pennyworth  pause  a  while.  He 
means,  that  perhaps  the  cheapness  is  apparent  only, 
and  not  real;  or  the  bargain,  by  straitening  thee  in 
thy  business,  may  do  thee  more  harm  than  good. 
For  in  another  place  he  says,  Many  have  been  ruined 
by  buying  good  pennyworths.  Again,  It  is  foolish  to 
lay  out  money  in  a  purchase  of  repentance ;  and  yet 
this  folly  is  practised  every  day  at  auctions,  for  want 
of  minding  the  Almanac.  Many  a  one,  for  the  sake 
of  finery  on  the  back,  have  gone  with  a  hungry  belly 
and  half-starved  their  families.  Silks  and  satins,  scarlet 
and  velvets,  put  out  the  kitchen  fire,  as  Poor  Richard 
says. 

"  These  are  not  the  necessaries  of  life ;  they  can 
scarcely  be  called  the  conveniences;  and  yet,  only 
because  they  look  pretty,  how  many  want  to  have 
them !  By  these,  and  other  extravagances,  the  genteel 
are  reduced  to  poverty,  and  forced  to  borrow  of  those 
whom  they  formerly  despised,  but  who,  through  in- 
dustry and  frugality,  have  maintained  their  standing; 
in  which  case  it  appears  plainly,  that  Jl  ploughman 
on  his  legs  is  higher  than  a  gentleman  on  his  knees,  as 
Poor  Richard  says.  Perhaps  they  have  had  a  small 
estate  left  them,  which  they  knew  not  the  getting  of; 
they  think,  //  is  day,  and  will  never  be  night ;  that  a 
little  to  be  spent  out  of  so  much  is  not  worth  minding ; 
but  Jllways  taking  out  of  the  meal-tub,  and  never  putting 


100  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

in,  soon  comes  to  the  bottom,  as  Poor  Richard  says ;  and 
then,  When  the  well  is  dry,  they  know  the  worth  oj 
water.  But  this  they  might  have  known  before,  if  they 
had  taken  his  advice.  If  you  would  know  the  value  of 
money,  go  and  try  to  borrow  some ;  for  he  that  goes 
a  borrowing  goes  a  sorroiving,  as  Poor  Richard  says ; 
and  indeed  so  does  he  that  lends  to  such  people,  when 
he  goes  to  get  it  in  again.  Poor  Dick  further  advises, 
and  says, 

Fond  pride  of  dress  is  sure  a  very  curse  ; 
Ere  fancy  you  consult,  consult  your  purse. 

And  again,  Pride  is  as  loud  a  beggar  as  Want,  and 
a  great  deal  more  saucy.  When  you  have  bought  one 
fine  thing,  you  must  buy  ten  more,  that  your  appear- 
ance may  be  all  of  a  piece ;  but  Poor  Dick  says,  //  is 
easier  to  suppress  the  first  desire,  than  to  satisfy  all 
tlwt  follow  it.  And  it  is  as  truly  folly  for  the  poor  to 
ape  the  rich,  as  for  the  frog  to  swell  in  order  to  equal 
the  ox. 

Vessels  large  may  venture  more, 
But  little  boats  should  keep  near  shore. 

It  is,  however,  a  folly  soon  punished ;  for,  as  Poor 
Richard  says,  Pride  that  dines  on  vanity,  sups  on  con- 
tempt. Pride  breakfasted  with  Plenty,  dined  with  Pov- 
erty, and  supped  ivith  Infamy.  And,  after  all,  of  what 
use  is  this  pride  of  appearance,  for  which  so  much  is 
risked,  so  much  is  suffered  ?  It  cannot  promote  health, 
nor  ease  pain ;  it  makes  no  increase  of  merit  in  the 
person ;  it  creates  envy  ;  it  hastens  misfortune. 

"But  what  madness  must  it  be  to  run  in  debt  for 
these  superfluities  ?  We  are  offered  by  the  terms  of 
this  sale,  six  months'  credit ;  and  that,  perhaps,  has 
induced  some  of  us  to  attend  it,  because  we  cannot 
spare  the  ready  money,  and  hope  now  to  be  fine  with- 
out it.  But,  ah !  think  what  you  do  when  you  run  in 


MISCELLANEOUS.  101 

debtj  you  give  to  another  power  over  your  liberty. 
If  you  cannot  pay  at  the  time,  you  will  be  ashamed 
to  see  your  creditor ;  you  will  be  in  fear  when  you 
speak  to  him ;  you  will  make  poor,  pitiful,  sneaking 
excuses,  and,  by  degrees,  come  to  lose  your  veracity, 
and  sink  into  base,  downright  lying;  for  The  second 
vice  is  lying,  the  first  is  running  in  debt,  as  Poor 
Richard  says ;  and  again,  to  the  same  purpose,  Lying 
rides  upon  Debt's  back ;  whereas  a  free-born  English- 
man ought  not  to  be  ashamed  nor  afraid  to  see  or 
speak  to  any  man  living.  But  poverty  often  deprives 
a  man  of  all  spirit  and  virtue.  It  is  hard  for  an  empty 
bag  to  stand  upright. 

"What  would  you  think  of  that  prince,  or  of  that 
government,  who  should  issue  an  edict  forbidding  you 
to  dress  like  a  gentleman  or  gentlewoman,  on  pain  of 
imprisonment  or  servitude?  Would  you  not  say  that 
you  were  free,  have  a  right  to  dress  as  you  please,  and 
that  such  an  edict  would  be  a  breach  of  your  privileges, 
and  such  a  government  tyrannical  ?  And  yet  you  are 
about  to  put  yourself  under  such  tyranny,  when  you 
run  in  debt  for  such  dress!  Your  creditor  has  au- 
thority, at  his  pleasure,  to  deprive  you  of  your  liberty, 
by  confining  you  in  gaol  till  you  shall  be  able  to  pay 
him.  When  you  have  got  your  bargain,  you  may, 
perhaps,  think  little  of  payment ;  but,  as  Poor  Richard 
says,  Creditors  have  better  memories  than  debtors ;  cre- 
ditors are  a  superstitious  sect,  great  observers  of  set 
days  and  times.  The  day  comes  round  before  you  are 
aware,  and  the  demand  is  made  before  you  are  pre- 
pared to  satisfy  it ;  or,  if  you  bear  your  debt  in  mind, 
the  term,  which  at  first  seemed  so  long,  will,  as  it 
lessens,  appear  extremely  short.  Time  will  seem  to 
have  added  wings  to  his  heels  as  well  as  his  shoulders. 
Those  have  a  short  Lent,  who  owe  money  to  be  paid 


102  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

at  Easter.  At  present,  perhaps,  you  may  think  your- 
selves in  thriving  circumstances,  and  that  you  can  bear 
a  little  extravagance  without  injury ;  but 

For  age  and  want  save  while  you  may  ; 
No  morning  sun  lasts  a  whole  day. 

Gain  may  be  temporary  and  uncertain,  but  ever,  while 
you  live,  expense  is  constant  and  certain;  and  //  is 
easier  to  build  two  chimneys,  than  to  keep  one  in  fuel, 
as  Poor  Richard  says ;  so,  Rather  go  to  bed  supperless, 
than  rise  in  debt. 

Get  what  you  can,  and  what  you  get  hold; 

'  Tis  the  stone  that  will  turn  all  your  lead  into  gold. 

And,  when  you  have  got  the  Philosopher's  stone,  sure 
you  will  no  longer  complain  of  bad  times,  or  the  diffi- 
culty of  paying  taxes. 

"  IV.  This  doctrine,  my  friends,  is  reason  and  wis- 
dom ;  but,  after  all,  do  not  depend  too  much  upon  your 
own  industry,  and  frugality,  and  prudence,  though  ex- 
cellent things ;  for  they  may  all  be  blasted,  without  the 
blessing  of  Heaven  ;  and,  therefore,  ask  that  blessing 
humbly,  and  be  not  uncharitable  to  those  that  at  pres- 
ent seem  to  want  it,  but  comfort  and  help  them. 
Remember,  Job  suffered,  and  was  afterwards  pros- 
perous. 

"And  now,  to  conclude,  Experience  keeps  a  dear 
school,  but  fools  will  learn  in  no  other,  as  Poor  Richard 
says,  and  scarce  in  that ;  for,  it  is  true,  We  may  give 
advice,  but  we  cannot  give  conduct.  However,  remem- 
ber this,  They  that  will  not  be  counselled,  cannot  be 
helped ;  and  further,  that,  If  you  will  not  hear  Reason, 
she  will  surely  rap  your  knuckles,  as  Poor  Richard  says." 

Thus  the  old  gentleman  ended  his  harangue.  The 
people  heard  it,  and  approved  the  doctrine ;  and  imme- 
diately practised  the  contrary,  just  as  if  it  had  been  a 
common  sermon;  for  the  auction  opened,  and  they 


MISCELLANEOUS.  103 

began  to  buy  extravagantly.  I  found  the  good  man 
had  thoroughly  studied  my  Almanacs,  and  digested  all 
I  had  dropped  on  these  topics  during  the  course  of 
twenty-five  years.  The  frequent  mention  he  made  of 
me  must  have  tired  any  one  else ;  but  my  vanity  was 
wonderfully  delighted  with  it,  though  I  was  conscious 
that  not  a  tenth  part  of  the  wisdom  was  my  own,  which 
he  ascribed  to  me,  but  rather  the  gleanings  that  I  had 
made  of  the  sense  of  all  ages  and  nations.  However, 
I  resolved  to  be  the  better  for  the  echo  of  it;  and, 
though  I  had  at  first  determined  to  buy  stuff  for  a  new 
coat,  I  went  away  resolved  to  wear  my  old  one  a  little 
longer.  Reader,  if  thou  wilt  do  the  same,  thy  profit 
will  be  as  great  as  mine.  I  am,  as  ever,  thine  to  serve 
thee, 

RICHARD  SAUJVDERS, 


OBSERVATIONS  ON  MAYZ,  OR  INDIAN  CORN. 

IT  is  remarked  in  North  America,  that  the  English 
farmers,  when  they  first  arrive  there,  finding  a  soil  and 
climate  proper  for  the  husbandry  they  have  been  accus- 
tomed to,  and  particularly  suitable  for  raising  wheat, 
they  despise  and  neglect  the  culture  of  mayz,*  or  In- 
dian corn ;  but,  observing  the  advantage  it  affords  their 
neighbours,  the  older  inhabitants,  they  by  degrees  get 
more  and  more  into  the  practice  of  raising  it ;  and  the 
face  of  the  country  shows,  from  time  to  time,  that  the 
culture  of  that  grain  goes  on  visibly  augmenting. 

The  inducements  are,  the  many  different  ways  in 
which  it  may  be  prepared,  so  as  to  afford  a  wholesome 

*  This  word  seems  to  have  no  settled  orthography.  It  is  written 
riayz,  mai:,  maize.  The  last  is,  perhaps,  the  most  usua>.  —  EDITOR. 


104  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

and  pleasing  nourishment  to  men  and  other  animals. 
1st.  The  family  can  begin  to  make  use  of  it  before  the 
time  of  full  harvest ;  for  the  tender  green  ears,  stripped 
of  their  leaves,  and  roasted  by  a  quick  fire  till  the  grain 
is  brown,  and  eaten  with  a  little  salt  or  butter,  are  a 
delicacy.  2dly.  When  the  grain  is  ripe  and  harder,  the 
ears,  boiled  in  their  leaves,  and  eaten  with  butter,  are 
also  good  and  agreeable  food.  The  tender  green  grains, 
dried,  may  be  kept  all  the  year,  and,  mixed  with  green 
haricots*  also  dried,  make  at  any  time  a  pleasing  dish, 
being  first  soaked  some  hours  in  water,  and  then  boiled. 
When  the  grain  is  ripe  and  hard,  there  are  also  several 
ways  of  using  it.  One  is,  to  soak  it  all  night  in  a 
lessive  or  lye,  and  then  pound  it  in  a  large  wooden 
mortar  with  a  wooden  pestle ;  the  skin  of  each  grain 
is  by  that  means  skinned  off,  and  the  farinaceous  part 
left  whole,  which,  being  boiled,  swells  into  a  white  soft 
pulp,  and  eaten  with  milk,  or  with  butter  and  sugar, 
is  delicious.f  The  dry  grain  is  also  sometimes  ground 
loosely,  so  as  to  be  broke  into  pieces  of  the  size  of 
rice,  and  being  winnowed  to  separate  the  bran,  it  is 
then  boiled  and  eaten  with  turkeys  or  other  fowls,  as 
rice.  Ground  into  a  finer  meal,  they  make  of  it  by 
boiling  a  hasty-pudding,  or  bouilli,  to  be  eaten  with 
milk,  or  with  butter  and  sugar ;  this  resembles  what  the 
Italians  call  polenta.  They  make  of  the  same  meal, 
with  water  and  salt,  a  hasty  cake,  which,  being  stuck 
against  a  hoe  or  other  flat  iron,  is  placed  erect  before 
the  fire,  and  so  baked,  to  be  used  as  bread.  Broth 
is  also  agreeably  thickened  with  the  same  meal.  They 
also  parch  it  in  this  manner.  An  iron  pot  is  filled  with 
sand,  and  set  on  the  fire  till  the  sand  is  very  hot.  Two 

*  Kidney  beans. 

T  Called  hominy,  and  much  used  in  the  Southern  States,  hut  seldom 
in  New  England.  —  EDITOR. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  105 

or  three  pounds  of  the  grain  are  then  thrown  in,  and 
well  mixed  with  the  sand  by  stirring.  Each  grain 
bursts  and  throws  out  a  white  substance  of  twice  its 
bigness.  The  sand  is  separated  by  a  wire  sieve,  and 
returned  into  the  pot,  to  be  again  heated  and  repeat 
the  operation  with  fresh  grain.  That  which  is  parched 
is  pounded  to  a  powder  in  mortars.  This,  being  sifted, 
will  keep  long  for  use.  An  Indian  will  travel  far  and 
subsist  long  on  a  small  bag  of  it,  taking  only  six  or  eight 
ounces  of  it  per  day,  mixed  with  water. 

The  flour  of  mayz,  mixed  with  that  of  wheat,  makes 
excellent  bread,  sweeter  and  more  agreeable  than  that 
of  wheat  alone.*  To  feed  horses,  it  is  good  to  soak 
the  grain  twelve  hours ;  they  mash  it  easier  with  their 
teeth,  and  it  yields  them  more  nourishment.  The 
leaves,  stripped  off  the  stalks  after  the  grain  is  ripe,  and 
tied  up  in  bundles  when  dry,  are  excellent  forage  for 
horses,  cows,  &c.  The  stalks,  pressed  like  sugar-cane, 
yield  a  sweet  juice,  which,  being  fermented  and  dis- 
tilled, yields  an  excellent  spirit ;  boiled  without  fermen- 
tation, it  affords  a  pleasant  syrup.  In  Mexico,  fields 
are  sown  with  it  thick,  that  multitudes  of  small  stalks 
may  arise,  which,  being  cut  from  time  to  time  like 
asparagus,  are  served  in  deserts,  and  their  sweet  juice 
extracted  in  the  mouth  by  chewing  them.  The  meal 
wetted  is  excellent  food  for  young  chickens,  and  the 
whole  grain  for  grown  fowls. 

*  Mixed  with  rye  flour  or  meal,  it  is  not  less  palatable  or  nutritious. 
This  mixture  forms  the  common  brown  bread  of  New  England  — EDITOR. 


106  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS 


PRECAUTIONS  TO   BE  USED   BY  THOSE  WHO  ARE  ABOUT 
TO  UNDERTAKE  A  SEA  VOYAGE* 

WHEN  you  intend  to  take  a  long  voyage,  nothing  is 
better  than  to  keep  it  a  secret  till  the  moment  of  your 
departure.  Without  this,  you  will  be  continually  in- 
terrupted and  tormented  by  visits  from  friends  and 
acquaintances,  who  not  only  make  you  lose  your  valu- 
able time,  but  make  you  forget  a  thousand  things, 
which  you  wish  to  remember;  so  that,  when  you  are 
embarked,  and  fairly  at  sea,  you  recollect,  with  much 
uneasiness,  affairs  which  you  have  not  terminated,  ac- 
counts that  you  have  not  settled,  and  a  number  of 
things  which  you  proposed  to  carry  with  you,  and 
which  you  find  the  want  of  every  moment.  Would 
it  not  be  attended  with  the  best  consequences  to  reform 
such  a  custom,  and  to  suffer  a  traveller,  without  de- 
ranging him,  to  make  his  preparations  in  quietness,  to 
set  apart  a  few  days,  when  these  are  finished,  to  take 
leave  of  his  friends,  and  to  receive  their  good  wishes 
for  his  happy  return  ? 

It  is  not  always  in  one's  power  to  choose  a  captain ; 
though  great  part  of  the  pleasure  and  happiness  of  the 
passage  depends  upon  this  choice,  and  though  one 
must  for  a  time  be  confined  to  his  compan}',  and  be 
in  some  measure  under  his  command.  If  he  is  a  social, 
sensible  man,  obliging,  and  of  a  good  disposition,  you 
will  be  so  much  the  happier.  One  sometimes  meets 
with  people  of  this  description,  but  they  are  not  com- 
mon ;  however,  if  yours  be  not  of  this  number,  if  he 
be  a  good  seaman,  attentive,  careful,  and  active  in  the 
management  of  his  vessel,  you  must  dispense  with  the 
rest,  for  these  are  essential  qualities. 

*  The  date  of  this  piece  is  uncertain,  but  it  was  probably  written 
during  the  author's  residence  in  England.  —  EDITOR. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  107 

Whatever  right  you  may  have,  by  your  agreement 
with  him,  to  the  provisions  he  has  taken  on  board  for 
the  use  of  the  passengers,  it  is  always  proper  to  have 
some  private  store,  which  you  may  make  use  of  occa- 
sionally. You  ought,  therefore,  to  provide  good  water, 
that  of  the  ship  being  often  bad ;  but  you  must  put 
it  into  bottles,  without  which  you  cannot  expect  to 
preserve  it  sweet.  You  ought  also  to  cany  with  you 
good  tea,  ground  coffee,  chocolate,  wine  of  that  sort 
which  you  like  best,  cider,  dried  raisins,  almonds, 
sugar,  capillaire,  citrons,  rum,  eggs  dipped  in  oil,  port- 
able soup,  bread  twice  baked.  With  regard  to  poultry, 
it  is  almost  useless  to  carry  any  with  you,  unless  you 
resolve  to  undertake  the  office  of  feeding  and  fattening 
them  yourself.  With  the  little  care,  which  is  taken  of 
them  on  board  ship,  they  are  almost  all  sickly,  and 
their  flesh  is  as  tough  as  leather. 

All  sailors  entertain  an  opinion,  which  has  undoubt- 
edly originated  formerly  from  a  want  of  water,  and 
when  it  has  been  found  necessary  to  be  sparing  of  it, 
that  poultry  never  know  when  they  have  drunk 
enough;  and  that  when  water  is  given  them  at  dis- 
cretion, they  generally  kill  themselves  by  drinking  be- 
yond measure.  In  consequence  of  this  opinion,  they 
give  them  water  only  once  in  two  days,  and  even  then 
in  small  quantities;  but  as  they  pour  this  water  into 
troughs  inclining  on  one  side,  which  occasions  it  to 
run  to  the  lower  part,  it  thence  happens  that  they  are 
obliged  to  mount  one  upon  the  back  of  another  in 
order  to  reach  it ;  and  there  are  some  which  cannot 
even  dip  their  beaks  in  it.  Thus  continually  tantalized 
and  tormented  by  thirst,  they  are  unable  to  digest  their 
food,  which  is  very  dry,  and  they  soon  fall  sick  and 
die.  Some  of  them  are  found  thus  every  morning, 
and  are  thrown  into  the  sea;  whilst  those  which  are 


JOS  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

killed  for  the  table  are  scarcely  fit  to  be  eaten.  To 
remedy  this  inconvenience,  it  will  be  necessary  to 
divide  their  troughs  into  small  compartments,  in  such 
a  manner  that  each  of  them  may  be  capable  of  con- 
taining water ;  but  this  is  seldom  or  never  done.  On 
this  account  sheep  and  hogs  are  to  be  considered  as 
the  best  fresh  provision  that  one  can  have  at  sea; 
mutton  there  being  in  general  very  good,  and  pork 
excellent. 

It  may  happen  that  some  of  the  provisions  and 
stores,  which  I  have  recommended,  may  become  al- 
most useless,  by  the  care  which  the  captain  has  taken 
to  lay  in  a  proper  stock ;  but  in  such  a  case  you  may 
dispose  of  it  to  relieve  the  poor  passengers,  who,  pay- 
ing less  for  their  passage,  are  stowed  among  the  com- 
mon sailors,  and  have  no  right  to  the  captain's  pro- 
visions, except  such  part  of  them  as  is  used  for  feeding 
the  crew.  These  passengers  are  sometimes  sick, 
melancholy,  and  dejected ;  and  there  are  often  women 
and  children  among  them,  neither  of  whom  have  any 
opportunity  of  procuring  those  things  which  I  have 
mentioned,  and  of  which,  perhaps,  they  have  the 
greatest  need.  By  distributing  amongst  them  a  part 
of  your  superfluity,  you  may  be  of  the  greatest  assist- 
ance to  them.  You  may  restore  their  health,  save 
their  lives,  and  in  short  render  them  happy ;  which 
always  affords  the  liveliest  sensation  to  a  feeling  mind. 

The  most  disagreeable  thing  at  sea  is  the  cookery ; 
for  there  is  not,  properly  speaking,  any  professed  cook 
on  board.  The  worst  sailor  is  generally  chosen  for 
that  purpose,  who  for  the  most  part  is  equally  dirty. 
Hence  comes  the  proverb  used  among  the  English 
sailors,  that  God  sends  meat,  and  the  Devil  sends  cooks. 
Those,  however,  who  have  a  better  opinion  of  Provi- 
dence, will  think  otherwise.  Knowing  that  sea  air, 


MISCELLANEOUS.  109 

and  the  exercise  or  motion,  which  they  receive  from 
the  rolling  of  the  ship,  have  a  wonderful  effect  in 
whetting  the  appetite,  they  will  say  that  Providence 
has  given  sailors  bad  cooks  to  prevent  them  from  eating 
too  much;  or  that,  knowing  they  would  have  bad 
cooks,  he  has  given  them  a  good  appetite  to  prevent 
them  from  dying  with  hunger.  However,  if  you  have 
no  confidence  in  these  succours  of  Providence,  you 
may  yourself,  with  a  lamp  and  a  boiler,  by  the  help 
of  a  little  spirits  of  wine,  prepare  some  food,  such  as 
soup,  hash,  &,c.  A  small  oven  made  of  tin  plate  is 
not  a  bad  piece  of  furniture;  your  servant  may  roast 
in  it  a  piece  of  mutton  or  pork.  If  you  are  ever 
tempted  to  eat  salt  beef,  which  is  often  very  good, 
you  will  find  that  cider  is  the  best  liquor  to  quench 
the  thirst  generally  caused  by  salt  meat  or  salt  fish. 
Sea  biscuit,  which  is  too  hard  for  the  teeth  of  some 
people,  may  be  softened  by  steeping  it;  but  bread 
double-baked  is  the  best ;  for  being  made  of  good  loaf- 
bread  cut  into  slices,  and  baked  a  second  time,  it 
readily  imbibes  water,  becomes  soft,  and  is  easily 
digested ;  it  consequently  forms  excellent  nourishment, 
much  superior  to  that  of  biscuit,  which  has  not  been 
fermented. 

I  must  here  observe,  that  this  double-baked  bread 
was  originally  the  real  biscuit  prepared  to  keep  at  sea ; 
for  the  word  biscuit,  in  French,  signifies  twice  baked.* 
Pease  often  boil  badly,  and  do  not  become  soft ;  in 
such  case,  by  putting  a  two-pound  shot  into  the  kettle, 
the  rolling  of  the  vessel,  by  means  of  this  bullet,  will 
convert  the  pease  into  a  kind  of  porridge,  like  mustard. 

Having  often  seen  soup,  when  put  upon  the  table 
at  sea  in  broad,  flat  dishes,  thrown  out  on  every  side 

*  It  is  derived  from  bis,  again,  and  cuit,  baked. 


110  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

by  the  rolling  of  the  vessel,  I  have  wished  that  our 
tinmen  would  make  our  soup-basins  with  divisions  or 
compartments,  forming  small  plates,  proper  for  contain- 
ing soup  for  one  person  only.  By  this  disposition,  the 
soup,  in  an  extraordinary  roll,  would  not  be  thrown 
out  of  the  plate,  and  would  not  fall  into  the  breasts 
of  those  who  are  at  table,  and  scald  them. 

Having  entertained  you  with  these  things  of  little 
importance,  permit  me  now  to  conclude  with  some 
general  reflections  upon  navigation. 

When  navigation  is  employed  only  for  transporting 
necessary  provisions  from  one  country,  where  they 
abound,  to  another  where  they  are  wanting ;  when  by 
this  it  prevents  famines,  which  were  so  frequent  and 
so  fatal  before  it  was  invented  and  became  so  com- 
mon ;  we  cannot  help  considering  it  as  one  of  those 
arts  which  contribute  most  to  the  happiness  of  man- 
kind. But  when  it  is  employed  to  transport  things 
of  no  utility,  or  articles  merely  of  luxury,  it  is  then 
uncertain  whether  the  advantages  resulting  from  it  are 
sufficient  to  counterbalance  the  misfortunes  it  occasions 
by  exposing  the  lives  of  so  many  individuals  upon 
the  vast  ocean.  And  when  it  is  used  to  plunder  ves- 
sels and  transport  slaves,  it  is  evidently  only  the  dread- 
ful means  of  increasing  those  calamities,  which  afflict 
human  nature. 

One  is  astonished  to  think  on  the  number  of  vessels 
and  men,  who  are  daily  exposed  in  going  to  bring  tea 
from  China,  coffee  from  Arabia,  and  sugar  and  tobacco 
from  America;  all,  commodities  which  our  ancestors 
lived  very  well  without.  The  sugar  trade  employs 
nearly  a  thousand  vessels,  and  that  of  tobacco  almost 
the  same  number.  With  regard  to  the  utility  of  to- 
bacco, little  can  be  said ;  and,  with  regard  to  sugar, 
how  much  more  meritorious  would  it  be  to  sacrifice 


MISCELLANEOUS.  HI 

the  momentary  pleasure  which  we  receive  from  drink- 
ing it  once  or  twice  a  day  in  our  tea,  than  to  encourage 
the  numberless  cruelties  that  are  continually  exercised 
in  order  to  procure  it  us ! 

A  celebrated  French  moralist  said,  that,  when  he 
considered  the  wars  which  we  foment  in  Africa  to  get 
negroes,  the  great  number  who  of  course  perish  in 
these  wars ;  the  multitude  of  those  wretches  who  die 
in  their  passage,  by  disease,  bad  air,  and  bad  pro- 
visions ;  and,  lastly,  how  many  perish  by  the  cruel 
treatment  they  meet  with  in  a  state  of  slavery ;  when 
he  saw  a  bit  of  sugar,  he  could  not  help  imagining  it 
to  be  covered  with  spots  of  human  blood.  But,  had 
he  added  to  these  considerations  the  wars  which  we 
carry  on  against  one  another,  to  take  and  retake  the 
islands  that  produce  this  commodity,  he  would  not  have 
seen  the  sugar  simply  spotted  with  blood,  he  would 
have  beheld  it  entirely  tinged  with  it. 

These  wars  make  the  maritime  powers  of  Europe, 
and  the  inhabitants  of  Paris  and  London  pay  much 
dearer  for  their  sugar  than  those  of  Vienna,  though 
they  are  almost  three  hundred  leagues  distant  from  the 
sea.  A  pound  of  sugar,  indeed,  costs  the  former  not 
only  the  price  which  they  give  for  it,  but  also  what 
they  pay  in  taxes,  necessary  to  support  the  fleets  and 
armies,  which  serve  to  defend  and  protect  the  countries 
that  produce  it. 


112  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 


TOLERATION  IN  OLD  ENGLAND  AND  NEW  ENGLAND  * 

SIR, 

I  understand  from  the  public  papers,  that-  in  the 
debates  on  the  bill  for  relieving  the  Dissenters  in  the 
point  of  subscription  to  the  church  articles,  sundry 
reflections  were  thrown  out  against  that  people,  import- 
ing, "that  they  themselves  are  of  a  persecuting,  intol- 
lerant  spirit;  for  that,  when  they  had  the  superiority, 
they  persecuted  the  church,  and  still  persecute  it  in 
America,  where  they  compel  its  members  to  pay  taxes 
for  maintaining  the  Presbyterian  or  Independent  wor- 
ship, and,  at  the  same  time,  refuse  them  a  toleration 
in  the  full  exercise  of  their  religion  by  the  administra- 
tions of  a  bishop." 

If  we  look  back  into  history  for  the  character  of  the 
present  sects  in  Christianity,  we  shall  find  few  that  have 
not  in  their  turns  been  persecutors,  and  complainers 
of  persecution.  The  primitive  Christians  thought  per- 
secution extremely  wrong  in  the  Pagans,  but  practised 
it  on  one  another.  The  first  Protestants  of  the  church 
of  England  blamed  persecution  in  the  Romish  church, 
but  practised  it  against  the  Puritans.  These  found 
it  wrong  in  the  bishops,  but  fell  into  the  same  practice 
themselves,  both  here  and  in  New  England.  To  ac- 
count for  this  we  should  remember,  that  the  doctrine 
of  toleration  was  not  then  known,  or  had  not  prevailed 
in  the  world.  Persecution  was,  therefore,  not  so  much 

*  This  piece  was  first  printed  in  The  London  Packet,  June  3d,  1772, 
and  seems  to  relate  to  topics  of  public  interest  at  that  time.  —  EDITOR. 
[The  spirited  writer  of  the  Two  Letters  to  the  Prelates,  republished  it  in 
an  appendix  to  that  pamphlet,  without,  however,  naming  Dr.  Franklin  as 
the  author,  but  expressing  it  to  be  the  production  of  "  a  gentleman 
highly  respected  in  the  literary  world."  —  B.  V.] 


MISCELLANEOUS  113 

the  fault  of  the  sect  as  of  the  times.  It  was  not  in 
those  days  deemed  wrong  in  itself.  The  general 
opinion  was  only,  that  those  who  are  in  error  ought 
not  to  persecute  tlie  truth ;  but  the  possessors  of  truth 
were  in  the  right  to  persecute  error,  in  order  to  destroy 
it.  Thus  every  sect,  believing  itself  possessed  of  all 
truth,  and  that  every  tenet  differing  from  theirs  was 
error,  conceived,  that,  when  the  power  was  in  their 
hands,  persecution  was  a  duty  required  of  them  by 
that  God,  whom  they  supposed  to  be  offended  with 
heresy.  By  degrees  more  moderate  and  more  moaest 
sentiments  have  taken  place  in  the  Christian  world; 
and  among  Protestants,  particularly,  all  disclaim  perse- 
cution, none  vindicate  it,  and  but  few  practise  it.  We 
should  then  cease  to  reproach  each  other  with  what 
was  done  by  our  ancestors,  but  judge  of  the  present 
character  of  sects  or  churches  by  their  present  conduct 
only. 

Now,  to  determine  on  the  justice  of  this  charge 
against  the  present  Dissenters,  particularly  those  in 
America,  let  us  consider  the  following  facts.  They 
went  from  England  to  establish  a  new  country  for 
themselves,  at  their  own  expense,  where  they  might 
enjoy  the  free  exercise  of  religion  in  their  own  way. 
When  they  had  purchased  the  territory  of  the  natives, 
they  granted  the  lands  out  in  townships,  requiring  for  it 
neither  purchase-money  nor  quit-rent,  but  this  condition 
only  to  be  complied  with,  that  the  freeholders  should 
for  ever  support  a  gospel  minister,  (meaning  probably 
one  of  the  governing  sects,)  and  a  free-school,  within 
the  township.  Thus  what  is  commonly  called  Pres- 
byterianism  became  the  established  religion  of  that 
country.  All  went  on  well  in  this  way  while  the  same 
religious  opinions  were  general,  the  support  of  minister 
and  school  being  raised  by  a  proportionate  tax  on  the 

VOL.    II.  8 


114  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

lands.  But,  in  process  of  time  some  becoming  Qua- 
kers,* some  Baptists,  and,  of  late  years,  some  returning 
to  the  church  of  England  (through  the  laudable  en- 
deavours, and  a  proper  application^  of  their  funds,  by 
the  Society  for  Propagating  the  Gospel),  objections 
were  made  to  the  payment  of  a  tax  appropriated  to 
the  support  of  a  church  they  disapproved  and  had 
forsaken. 

The  civil  magistrates,  however,  continued  for  a  time 
to  collect  and  apply  the  tax  according  to  the  original 
laws,  which  remained  in  force ;  and  they  did  it  more 
freely,  as  thinking  it  just  and  equitable,  that  the  holders 
of  lands  should  pay  what  was  contracted  to  be  paid 
when  they  were  granted,  as  the  only  consideration  for 
the  grant,  and  what  had  been  considered  by  all  sub- 
sequent purchasers  as  a  perpetual  incumbrance  on  the 
estate,  bought  therefore  at  a  proportion  ably  cheaper 
rate ;  a  payment  which  it  was  thought  no  honest  man 
ought  to  avoid,  under  the  pretence  of  his  having 
changed  his  religious  persuasion.  And  this,  I  suppose, 
is  one  of  the  best  grounds  of  demanding  tithes  of 
Dissenters  now  in  England.  But  the  practice  being 

*  No  person  appeared  in  New  England,  who  professed  the  opinion 
of  the  Quakers,  until  1656 ;  that  is,  about  thirty-six  years  after  the  first 
settling  of  the  colony ;  when  Mary  Fisher  and  Ann  Austin  came  from 
Barbadoes ;  and,  soon  after,  nine  others  arrived  in  the  ship  Speedwell 
from  London.  They  were  successful  in  their  preaching;  and  the  pro- 
vincial government,  wishing  to  keep  the  colony  free  from  them,  attempted 
to  send  away  such  as  they  discovered,  and  prevent  the  arrival  of  others. 
Securities,  fines,  banishment,  imprisonment,  and  corporal  punishments 
were  instituted  for  this  purpose ;  but  with  so  little  effect,  that  at  last 
"a  law  was  made  for  punishing  with  death,  all  such  as  should  return 
into  the  jurisdiction  after  banishment.  A  few  were  hanged."  Sae 
History  of  the  British  Dominions,  4to.  1773,  pp.  118,  120.  — B  V. 

t  They  were  to  spread  the  Gospel,  and  maintain  a  learned  and  or- 
thodox clergy,  where  ministers  were  wanted  or  ill  provided ;  administer 
ing  God's  word  and  sacraments,  and  preventing  atheism,  infidelity 
oopery,  and  idolatry.  —  B.  V 


MISCELLANEOUS.  115 

clamored  against  by  the  Episcopalians  as  persecution, 
the  legislature  of  the  province  of  Massachusetts  Bay, 
near  thirty  years  since,  passed  an  act  for  their  relief, 
requiring  indeed  the  tax  to  be  paid  as  usual,  but 
directing  that  the  several  sums  levied  from  members 
of  the  Church  of  England,  should  be  paid  over  to  the 
minister  of  that  church,  with  whom  such  members 
usually  attended  divine  worship,  which  minister  had 
power  given  him  to  receive,  and  on  occasion  to  recover 
the  same  by  law. 

It  seems  that  the  legislature  considered  the  end  of 
the  tax  was  to  secure  and  improve  the  morals  of  the 
people,  and  promote  their  happiness,  by  supporting 
among  them  the  public  worship  of  God,  and  the 
preaching  of  the  Gospel ;  that  where  particular  people 
fancied  a  particular  mode,  that  mode  might  probably, 
therefore,  be  of  most  use  to  those  people ;  and  that,  if 
the  good  was  done,  it  was  not  so  material  in  what 
mode  or  by  whom  it  was  done.  The  consideration 
that  their  brethren,  the  Dissenters  in  England,  were 
still  compelled  to  pay  tithes  to  the  clergy  of  the  church, 
had  not  weight  enough  with  the  legislature  to  prevent 
this  moderate  act,  which  still  continues  in  full  force ; 
and  I  hope  no  uncharitable  conduct  of  the  church 
towards  the  Dissenters  will  ever  provoke  them  to 
repeal  it. 

With  regard  to  a  bishop,  I  know  not  upon  what 
grounds  the  Dissenters,  either  here  or  in  America,  are 
charged  with  refusing  the  benefit  of  such  an  officer 
to  the  church  in  that  country.  Here  they  seem  to 
have  naturally  no  concern  in  the  affair.  There  they 
have  no  power  to  prevent  it,  if  government  should 
think  fit  to  send  one.  They  would  probably  dislike, 
indeed,  to  see  an  order  of  men  established  among 
them,  from  whose  persecutions  their  fathers  fled  into 


116  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

that  wilderness,  and  whose  future  domination  they 
may  possibly  fear,  not  knowing  that  their  natures  are 
changed.  But  the  non-appointment  of  bishops  for 
America  seems  to  arise  from  another  quarter.  The 
same  wisdom  of  government,  probably,  that  prevents 
the  sitting  of  convocations,  and  forbids  by  noli-prosequis 
the  persecution  of  Dissenters  for  non-subscription, 
avoids  establishing  bishops  where  the  minds  of  the 
people  are  not  yet  prepared  to  receive  them  cordially, 
lest  the  public  peace  should  be  endangered.* 

And  now  let  us  see  how  this  persecution  account 
stands  between  the  parties. 

In  New  England,  where  the  legislative  bodies  are 
almost  to  a  man  dissenters  from  the  church  of  Eng- 
land, 

1.  There   is   no   test   to    prevent    churchmen   from 
holding  offices. 

2.  The  sons  of  churchmen  have  the  full  benefit  of 
the  universities. 

3.  The  taxes  for   support  of  public  worship,  when 
paid  by  churchmen,  are  given  to  the  Episcopal  minister. 

In  Old  England, 

1.  Dissenters  are  excluded  from  all  offices  of  profit 
and  honor. 

2.  The  benefits  of  education  in  the  universities  are 
appropriated  to  the  sons  of  churchmen. 

3.  The  clergy  of  the  Dissenters  receive  none  of  the 
tithes    paid    by    their   people,    who   must   be    at    the 

*  No  bishops  were  appointed  in  America  till  after  the  Revolution. 
Previously  to  that  time  the  ecclesiastical  affairs  of  the  Protestant  Epis- 
copal Church  in  this  country  were  under  the  charge  of  the  Bishop  of 
London.  At  length,  in  the  year  1786,  an  act  of  Parliament  was  passed, 
empowering  English  bishops  to  consecrate  to  that  office  persons,  who 
might  be  subjects  or  citizens  of  other  countries.  In  the  following  year, 
William  White  and  Samuel  Prevost  were  consecrated  at  Lambeth 
Palace,  the  one  as  Bishop  of  Pennsylvania,  the  other  of  New  York. - 
EDITOR. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  117 

additional  charge  of  maintaining  their  own  separate 
worship. 

But  it  is  said,  the  Dissenters  of  America  oppose  the 
introduction  of  a  bishop. 

In  fact,  it  is  not  alone  the  Dissenters  there  that  give 
opposition  (if  not  encouraging  must  be  termed  oppos- 
ing), but  the  laity  in  general  dislike  the  project,  and 
some  even  of  the  clergy.  The  inhabitants  of  Virginia 
are  almost  all  Episcopalians.  The  church  is  fully 
established  there,  and  the  Council  and  General  Assem- 
bly are  perhaps  to  a  man  its  members;  yet,  when 
lately,  at  a  meeting  of  the  clergy,  a  resolution  was 
taken  to  apply  for  a  bishop,  against  which  several 
however  protested,  the  Assembly  of  the  province  at 
their  next  meeting  expressed  their  disapprobation  of 
the  thing  in  the  strongest  manner,  by  unanimously 
ordering  the  thanks  of  the  House  to  the  protesters ; 
for  many  of  the  American  laity  of  the  church  think  it 
some  advantage,  whether  their  own  young  men  come  to 
England  for  ordination  and  improve  themselves  at  the 
same  time  with  the  learned  here,  or  the  congregations 
are  supplied  by  Englishmen,  who  have  had  the  benefit 
of  education  in  English  universities,  and  are  ordained 
before  they  come  abroad.  They  do  not,  therefore,  see 
the  necessity  of  a  bishop  merely  for  ordination,  and 
confirmation  is  deemed  among  them  a  ceremony  of  no 
very  great  importance,  since  few  seek  it  in  England, 
where  bishops  are  in  plenty.  These  sentiments  pre- 
vail with  many  churchmen  there,  not  to  .promote  a 
design  which  they  think  must  sooner  or  later  saddle 
them  with  great  expenses  to  support  it.  As  to  the 
Dissenters,  their  minds  might  probably  be  more  con- 
ciliated to  the  measure,  if  the  bishops  here  should,  in 
their  wisdom  and  goodness,  think  fit  to  set  their  sacred 
character  in  a  more  friendly  light,  by  dropping  their 


118  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

opposition  to  the  Dissenters'  application  for  relief  in 
subscription,  and  declaring  their  willingness  that  Dis- 
senters should  be  capable  of  offices,  enjoy  the  benefit 
of  education  in  the  universities,  and  the  privilege  of 
appropriating  their  tithes  to  the  support  of  their  own 
clergy.  In  all  these  points  of  toleration  they  appear 
far  behind  the  present  Dissenters  of  New  England, 
and  it  may  seem  to  some  a  step  below  the  dignity 
}f  bishops  to  follow  the  example  of  such  inferiors.  I 
do  not  however  despair  of  their  doing  it  some  time  or 
other,  since  nothing  of  the  kind  is  too  hard  for  true 
Christian  humility.  I  am,  Sir,  yours,  &c. 

A  NEW  ENGLAND  MAN. 


A    PARABLE    AGAINST   PERSECUTION, 

IN    IMITATION    OF    SCRIPTURE    LANGUAGE. 


THIS  Parable  was  printed  in  the  Boston  Chronicle,  1768,  and  six 
years  afterwards  in  Lord  Kames's  Sketches  of  the  History  of  Man. 
Lord  Kames  introduced  it  with  the  following  prefatory  remark.  "  It 
was  communicated  to  me  by  Dr.  Franklin  of  Philadelphia,  a  man  who 
makes  a  great  figure  in  the  learned  world  ;  and  who  would  still  make 
a  greater  figure  for  benevolence  and  candor,  were  virtue  as  much  re- 
garded in  this  declining  age  as  knowledge."  From  Lord  Kames's 
work  it  was  taken  by  Mr.  Vaughan,  and  included  in  his  edition  of 
Franklin's  writings.  From  that  time  it  was  repeatedly  reprinted, 
and  much  admired,  as  illustrating  a  beautiful  moral,  and  as  being  a 
remarkabla  imitation  of  Scripture  language. 

Although  Lord  Kames  does  not  say,  that  Dr.  Franklin  was  the 
author  of  the  Parable,  yet,  from  the  manner  in  which  he  speaks 
of  it,  this  inference  was  naturally  drawn ;  and  some  degree  of 
surprise  was  expressed,  when  the  discovery  was  made,  not  long 
afterwards,  that  there  was  a  similar  story  in  Jeremy  Taylor's 


MISCELLANEOUS.  119 

LIBERTY  OF  PROPHESYING.  Curiosity  was  then  excited,  as  to  its 
real  origin,  for  Taylor  vaguely  says,  that  he  found  it  in  "  the  Jews' 
books."  Upon  this  hint,  however,  the  learned  commenced  their 
researches,  and  the  storehouses  of  Talmudic,  Cabalistic,  and  Rab- 
binicil  lore  were  explored  in  vain.  No  such  story  could  be  found  in 
any  Jewish  writing.  It  was  at  length  discovered  in  the  dedication 
of  a  book,  which  was  translated  by  George  Gentius  from  a  Jewish 
work,  and  which  appeared  at  Amsterdam  in  the  year  1651.  This 
dedication  is  written  in  Latin.  The  part  relating  to  the  Parable 
was  selected  and  published,  without  the  name  of  the  person  who 
had  made  the  discovery,  in  The,  Repository,  a  British  periodical 
journal,  which  was  issued  monthly  from  the  London  press.  The 
extract  is  contained  in  the  number  for  May,  1788.  Considering 
the  importance,  which  has  since  been  attached  to  the  history  of 
this  Parable,  it  seems  not  amiss  to  insert  the  Latin  version  of 
Gentius  in  this  place. 

"  Illustre  tradit  nobilissimus  autor  Sadux  venerandas  antiquitatis 
exemplum,  Abrahamum  patriarcham,  hospital itatis  gloria  celebra- 
tum,  vix  sibi  felix  faustumque  credidisse  hospitium,  nisi  externum 
aliquem,  tanquam  aliquod  presidium  domi,  excepisset  hospitem, 
quern  omni  officiorum  genere  coleret.  Aliquando,  cum  hospitem 
dorni  non  haberet,  foris  eum  quaesiturus  campestria  petiit.  Forte 
virum  quemdam,  senectute  gravem,  itinere  fessum,  sub  arbore  re- 
cumbentem  conspicit. 

"  Quern  comiter  exceptum,  domum  hospitem  deducit,  et  omni 
officio  colit.  Cum  coanam  appositam  Abrahamus  et  familia  ejus 
a  precibus  auspicarentur,  senex  manum  ad  ciburn  protendit,  nullo 
religionis  aut  pietatis  auspicio  usus.  Quo  viso,  Abrahamus  eum 
ita  affatur ;  '  Mi  senex,  vix  decet  canitiem  tuam  sine  prsevia  Numinis 
veneratione  cibum  sumere.'  Ad  quae  senex ;  '  Ego  ignicola  sum, 
istiusmodi  morum  ignarus  ;  nostri  enim  majores  nullam  talem  m«; 
docuere  pietatem.'  Ad  quam  vocem  horrescens  Abrahamus  rem 
sibi  cum  ignicola  profano  et  a  sui  Numinis  cultu  alieno  esse,  eum 
e  vestigio  et  a  ccena  remotum,  ut  sui  consortii  pestem  et  religionis 
hostein,  domo  ejicit.  Sed,  ecce,  Summus  Deus  Abrahamum  statim 
monet ;  '  Quid  agis,  Abrahame  ?  Itane  vero  fecisse  te  decuit?  Ego 
isti  seni,  quantumvis  in  me  usque  ingrato,  et  vitam  et  victum  cen- 
tum amplius  annos  dedi ;  tu  homini  nee  unam  crenam  dare, 
unumque  eum  momentum  ferre  potes?'  Qua  Divina  voce  moni- 
tus,  Abrahamus  senem  ex  itinere  revocatum  domum  reducit,  et 
taiitis  officiis,  pietate,  et  ratione  colit,  ut  suo  exemplo  ad  veri  Nu- 
nimis  cuituin  eum  perduxerit." 

In  the  succeeding  number  of  The  Repository  appeared  a  com- 


120  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

munication  relating  to  this  subject,  evidently  written  by  a  person 
well  acquainted  with  the  character  and  habits  of  Dr.  Franklin, 
the  drift  of  which  was  to  show,  that  he  never  pretended  to  have 
originated  the  idea  of  the  Parable,  that  as  an  imitation  it  stood 
on  the  same  ground  as  those  of  Pope  and  other  writers,  and  that 
in  this  light  it  was  eminently  felicitous  and  successful. 

"  This  great  man,  who  at  the  same  time  that  he  was  desirous 
of  disseminating  an  amiable  sentiment,  was  an  extreme  lover  of 
pleasantry,  often  endeavoured  to  put  off  the  parable  in  question 
upon  his  acquaintance,  as  a  portion  of  Scripture,  and  probably 
thought  this  one  of  the  most  successful  modes  of  circulating  its 
moral.  This  object  would  certainly  have  been  defeated,  had  he 
prefixed  to  the  printed  copies  of  the  Parable,  which  he  was  fond 
of  dispersing,  an  intimation  of  its  author.  He  therefore  gave  no 
name  whatever  to  it,  much  less  his  own.  And  often  as  I  have 
heard  of  his  amusing  himself  on  this  occasion,  I  never  could  learn 
that  he  ascribed  to  himself  the  merit  of  the  invention.  His  good 
humor  constantly  led  him  into  a  train  of  amusing  stories  concern- 
ing the  persons,  who  had  mistaken  it  for  Scripture,  (for  he  had 
bound  it  up  as  a  leaf  in  his  Bible,  the  better  to  impose  upon  them,) 
which,  perhaps,  made  the  point  of  authorship  forgotten. 

"  Indeed,  to  a  man  of  his  magnitude,  the  accession  of  fame  from 
this  circumstance  was  too  small  to  make  it  worth  any  risk.  Arti- 
fice must  rob  him  of  more  than  it  could  yield  him ;  and  the  gain 
was  temporary,  while  the  injury,  from  any  undue  pretension,  was 
as  permanent  as  his  own  immortal  character.  He  was  too  wise 
to  think,  that  the  actions  of  a  man  like  himself  could  be  hid;  or 
that  the  accidental  researches  of  literary  men  would  suffer  a  pla- 
giarism of  this  sort  to  pass  undiscovered,  or  the  good  nature  or 
busy  turn  of  mankind  permit  it  to  be  unnoticed  after  its  discovery. 
I  am  told  that  the  Parable  referred  to  is  quoted  or  mentioned  by 
Jeremy  Taylor,  in  his  Liberty  of  Propktsying.  Possibly  Dr. 
Franklin  heard,  from  some  quarter  or  other,  some  general  and 
vague  account  of  what  has  thus  repeatedly  appeared  in  print,  and 
improved  the  idea  in  the  way  we  have  seen ;  without  being  able 
to  give  it  back  to  its  proper  parent,  and  without  knowing  perhaps 
that  it  claimed  a  parent  so  learned,  as  that  your  erudite  corre- 
spondent has  pointed  out." 

More  recently  it  has  been  found  out,  that  the  Parable  is  of 
eastern  origin.  Sadus,  quoted  by  Gentius,  is  the  celebrated  Per- 
sian poet,  Saadi ;  and  in  the  second  book  of  his  "  Bostan "  this 
btory  is  contained  substantially  the  same  as  in  Geritius's  Dedication. 
This  fact  was  made  known  to  Bishop  Heber  by  Lord  Teignmouth, 


MISCELLANEOUS.  121 

who  furnished  him  with  a  translation  from  the  Persian  into  English, 
which  is  inserted  among  the  notes  to  Heber's  Life  of  Jeremy 
Taylor.  It  is  worthy  of  notice,  that  Saadi  relates  the  story  not  as 
his  own,  but  as  hav'ng  been  told  to  him.  Thus  its  fountain  re- 
mains yet  to  be  ascertained. 

Franklin's  version  was  imperfectly  printed  from  Lord  Kames's 
copy,  whether  designedly  or  by  mistake  is  not  known.  The 
division  into  verses  was  not  observed,  and  all  that  follows  the 
eleventh  verse  was  omitted.  Mr.  Vaughan  restored  the  deficient 
verses  in  the  CORRIGENDA  to  his  edition,  since  which  the  Parable 
has  usually  been  printed  entire,  although  there  are  slight  verbal 
differences  in  several  of  the  impressions.  —  EDITOR. 


1.  And  it  came  to  pass  after  these  things,  that  Abra- 
ham sat  in  the  door  of  his  tent,  about  the  going  down 
of  the  sun. 

2.  And  behold  a  man,  bowed  with  age,  came  from 
the  way  of  the  wilderness,  leaning  on  a  staff. 

3.  And  Abraham  arose  and  met  him,  and  said  unto 
him,  "Turn  in,  I  pray    thee,  and  wash  thy  feet,  and 
tarry  all  night,  and  thou  shalt  arise  early  on  the  mor- 
row, and  go  on  thy  way." 

4.  But  the  man  said,  "Nay,  for  I  will  abide  under 
this  tree." 

5.  And  Abraham  pressed  him  greatly ;  so  he  turned, 
and  they  went  into  the  tent,  and  Abraham  baked  un- 
leavened bread,  and  they  did  eat. 

6.  And   when  Abraham    saw  that  the  man  blessed 
not  God,  he  said  unto  him,  "  Wherefore  dost  thou  not 
worship    the    most  high  God,  Creator  of   heaven  and 
earth  ?  " 

7.  And   the  man  answered   and  said,    "  I  do    not 
worship  the  God    thou    speakest  of,    neither  do  I  call 
upon  his  name ;    for  I  have  made    to    myself   a   god, 
which    abideth    alway  in    mine   house,   and   provideth 
me.  with  all  things." 


122  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

8.  And   Abraham's    zeal    was    kindled    against    the 
man,  and  he  arose  and  fell  upon  him,  and  drove  him 
forth  with  blows  into  the  wilderness. 

9.  And  at  midnight  God  called  unto  Abraham,  say- 
ing, "Abraham,  where  is  the  stranger?" 

10.  And  Abraham   answered   and  said,    "Lord,  he 
would'  not  worship  thee,   neither  would  he  call  upon 
thy  name ;  therefore  have  I  driven  him  out  from  before 
my  face  into  the  wilderness." 

11.  And  God  said,  "Have  I  borne  with  him  these 
hundred  ninety    and  eight  years,    and  nourished  him, 
and   clothed  him,  notwithstanding  his  rebellion  against 
me;   and  couldst  not  thou,  that    art   thyself  a   sinner, 
bear  with  him  one  night  ? " 

12.  And  Abraham  said,  "Let  not  the  anger  of  the 
Lord  wax  hot  against  his  servant;  lo,  I  have  sinned; 
lo,  I  have  sinned ;  forgive  me,  I  pray  thee." 

13.  And   Abraham  arose,   and    went   forth  into  the 
wilderness,    and    sought    diligently  for    the    man,   and 
found  him,    and    returned  with  him   to  the  tent;  and 
when  he  had  entreated  him  kindly,  he  sent  him  away 
on  the  morrow  with  gifts. 

14.  And  God   spake   again    unto  Abraham,   saying, 
"  For  this  thy  sin  shall  thy  seed  be  afflicted  four  hun- 
dred years  in  a  strange  land; 

15.  "But   for  thy    repentance   will  I   deliver  them; 
and  they  shall  come  forth  with  power,  and  with  glad- 
ness of  heart,  and  with  much  substance."  * 


*  On  the  subject  of  this  Parable,  see  also  a  letter  from  Dr.  Franklin 
to  Mr.  Vaughan,  dated  November  2d,  1789,  in  which  the  author  says, 
that  he  never  published  it,  "nor  claimed  any  other  credit  from  it,  than 
,vhat  related  to  the  style,  and  the  addition  of  the  concluding  threatening 
and  promise."  —  EDITOR. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  123 


A  PARABLE  ON  BROTHERLY  LOVE. 

1.  IN  those  days  there  was  no  worker  of  iron  in  all 
the  land.     And    the   merchants   of   Midian  passed  by 
with  their  camels,  bearing  spices,  and  myrrh,  and  balm-, 
and  wares  of  iron. 

2.  And   Reuben   bought  an  axe  of   the  Ishmaelite 
merchants,  which  he  prized  highly,  for  there  was  none 
in  his  father's  house. 

3.  And    Simeon   said    unto    Reuben    his    brother, 
"  Lend  me,  I  pray  thee,  thine  axe."     But  he  refused, 
and  would  not. 

4.  And  Levi  also  said  unto  him,  "  My  brother,  lend 
me,  I  pray  thee,  thine  axe ; "  and  he  refused  him  also. 

5.  Then  came   Judah   unto  Reuben,  and  entreated 
him,  saying,  "Lo,  thou  lovest  me,  and  I  have  always 
loved  thee ;  do  not  refuse  me  the  use  of  thine  axe." 

6.  But  Reuben  turned  from  him,    and  refused  him 
likewise. 

7.  Now  it  came  to  pass,  that  Reuben  hewed  timber 
on  the  bank  of  the  river,  and  his  axe  fell  therein,  and 
he  could  by  no  means  find  it. 

8.  But  Simeon,  Levi,  and  Judah    had  sent  a  mes- 
senger   after    the    Ishmaelites  with    money,    and    had 
bought  for  themselves  each  an  axe. 

9.  Then  came  Reuben  unto  Simeon,  and  said,  "  Lo, 
I  have  lost  mine  axe,  and  my  work  is  unfinished ;  lend 
me  thine,  I  pray  thee." 

1 0.  And    Simeon    answered    him,    saying,    "  Thou 
wouldest  not  lend  me  thine  axe,  therefore  will  I  not 
lend  thee  mine." 

11.  Then    went  he  unto  Levi,  and  said  unto  him, 
"My  brother,  thou    knowest    my  loss  and  my  neces- 
sity; lend  me,  I  pray  thee,  thine  axe." 


124  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

12.  And    Levi     reproached    him,    saying,    "Thou 
wouldest  not  lend  me  thine  axe   when   I    desired  it, 
but   I    will   be   better   than    thou,  and  will  lend  thee 
mine." 

13.  And  Reuben  was  grieved  at  the  rebuke  of  Levi, 
and  being   ashamed,  turned  from   him,    and   took  not 
the  axe,  but  sought  his  brother  Judah. 

14.  And  as  he  drew  near,  Judah  beheld  his  coun- 
tenance as  it  were  covered  with  grief  and  shame ;  and 
he  prevented  him,  saying,    "My  brother,  I  know  thy 
loss;    but   why   should   it  trouble  thee?     Lo,   have  I 
not  an  axe  that  will  serve  both  thee  and  me?     Take 
it,  I  pray  thee,  and  use  it  as  thine  own." 

15.  And  Reuben  fell  on  his  neck,  and  kissed  him, 
with  tears,  saying,    "  Thy  kindness  is    great,  but  thy 
goodness  in  forgiving  me  is  greater.     Thou  art  indeed 
my  brother,  and  whilst  I  live,  will  I  surely  love  thee." 

16.  And   Judah    said,    "Let  us  also  love  our  other 
brethren ;  behold,  are  we  not  all  of  one  blood  ? " 

17.  And  Joseph  saw  these  things,  and  reported  them 
to  his  father  Jacob. 

18  And  Jacob  s,aid,  "Reuben  did  wrong,  but  he 
repented.  Simeon  also  did  wrong ;  and  Levi  was  not 
altogether  blameless. 

19.  "  But  the  heart  of  Judah  is  princely.  Judah 
hath  the  .soul  of  a  king.  His  father's  children  shall  bow 
down  before  him,  and  he  shall  rule  over  his  brethren." 


MISCELLANEOUS.  125 


SKETCH  OF  AN  ENGLISH  SCHOOL. 

FOR  THE  CONSIDERATION  3F  THE  TRUSTEES  OF  THE  PHILADELPHIA 
ACADEMY. 

IT  is  expected  that  every  scholar,  to  be  admitted 
into  this  school,  be  at  least  able  to  pronounce  and 
divide  the  syllables  in  reading,  and  to  write  a  legible 
hand.  None  to  be  received  that  are  under  years 
of  age. 

FIRST    OR    LOWEST    CLASS. 

Let  the  first  class  learn  the  English  Grammar  Rules, 
and  at  the  same  time  let  particular  care  be  taken  to 
improve  them  in  orthography.  Perhaps  the  latter  is 
best  done  by  pairing  the  scholars ;  two  of  those  nearest 
equal  in  their  spelling  to  be  put  together.  Let  these 
strive  for  victory ;  each  propounding  ten  words  every 
day  to  the  other  to  be  spelled.  He  that  spells  truly 
most  of  the  other's  words  is  victor  for  that  day ;  he 
that  is  victor  most  days  in  a  month,  to  obtain  a  prize, 
a  pretty,  neat  book  of  some  kind,  useful  in  their  future 
studies.  This  method  fixes  the  attention  of  children 
extremely  to  the  orthography  of  words,  and  makes 
them  good  spellers  very  early.  It  is  a  shame  for  a  man 
to  be  so  ignorant  of  this  little  art  in  his  own  language, 
as  to  be  perpetually  confounding  words  of  like  sound 
and  different  significations ;  the  consciousness  of  which 
defect  makes  some  men,  otherwise  of  good  learning 
and  understanding,  averse  to  writing  even  a  common 
letter. 

Let  the  pieces  read  by  the  scholars  in  this  class  be 
short;  such  as  Croxall's  Fables,  and  little  stories.  In 
giving  the  lesson,  let  it  be  read  to  them ;  let  the  mean- 


126  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

ing  of  the  difficult  words  in  it  be  explained  to  them  ; 
and  let  them  con  over  by  themselves  before  they  are 
called  to  read  to  the  master  or  usher,  who  is  to  take 
particular  care  that  they  do  not  read  too  fast,  and 
that  they  duly  observe  the  stops  and  pauses.  A 
vocabulary  of  the  most  usual  difficult  words  might  be 
formed  for  their  use,  with  explanations ;  and  they  might 
daily  get  a  few  of  those  words  and  explanations  by 
heart,  which  would  a  little  exercise  their  memories; 
or  at  least  they  might  write  a  number  of  them  in  a 
small  book  for  the  purpose,  which  would  help  to  fix 
the  meaning  of  those  words  in  their  minds,  and  at  the 
same  time  furnish  every  one  with  a  little  dictionary  for 
his  future  use. 

THE    SECOND    CLASS 

To  be  taught  reading  with  attention,  and  with  proper 
modulations  of  the  voice,  according  to  the  sentiment 
and  the  subject. 

Some  short  pieces,  not  exceeding  the  length  of  a 
Spectator,  to  be  given  this  class  for  lessons,  (and  some 
of  the  easier  Spectators  would  be  very  suitable  for  the 
purpose.)  These  lessons  might  be  given  every  night 
as  tasks,  the  scholars  to  study  them  against  the  morn- 
ing. Let  it  then  be  required  of  them  to  give  an  ac- 
count, first,  of  the  parts  of  speech,  and  construction  of 
one  or  two  sentences.  This  will  oblige  them  to  recur 
frequently  to  their  Grammar,  and  fix  its  principal  rules 
in  their  memory.  Next,  of  the  intention  of  the  writer, 
or  the  scope  of  the  piece,  the  meaning  of  each  sentence, 
and  of  every  uncommon  word.  This  would  early  ac- 
quaint them  with  the  meaning  and  force  of  words,  and 
give  them  that  most  necessary  habit  of  reading  with 
attention. 

The  master  then  to  read  the  piece  with  the  proper 


MISCELLANEOUS.  127 

modulations  of  voice,  due  emphasis,  and  suitable  action, 
where  action  is  required;  and  put  the  youth  on  imi- 
tating his  manner. 

Where  the  author  has  used  an  expression  not  the 
best,  let  it  be  pointed  out;  and  let  his  beauties  be 
particularly  remarked  to  the  youth. 

Let  the  lessons  for  reading  be  varied,  that  the  youth 
may  be  made  acquainted  with  good  styles  of  all  kinds, 
in  prose  and  verse,  and  the  proper  manner  of  reading 
each  kind;  sometimes  a  well-told  story,  a  piece  of  a 
sermon,  a  general's  speech  to  his  soldiers,  a  speech  in 
a  tragedy,  some  part  of  a  comedy,  an  ode,  a  satire,  a 
letter,  blank  verse,  Hudibrastic,  heroic,  &c.  But  let 
such  lessons  be  chosen  for  reading,  as  contain  some 
useful  instruction,  whereby  the  understanding  or  morals 
of  the  youth  may  at  the  same  time  be  improved. 

It  is  required  that  they  should  first  study  and  under- 
stand the  Lessons,  before  they  are  put  upon  reading 
them  properly ;  to  which  end  each  boy  should  have  an 
English  dictionary,  to  help  him  over  difficulties.  When 
our  boys  read  English  to  us,  we  are  apt  to  imagine 
they  understand  what  they  read,  because  we  do,  and 
because  it  is  their  mother  tongue.  But  they  often 
read,  as  parrots  speak,  knowing  little  or  nothing  of  the 
meaning.  And  it  is  impossible  a  reader  should  give 
the  due  modulation  to  his  voice,  and  pronounce  prop- 
erly, unless  his  understanding  goes  before  his  tongue, 
and  makes  him  master  of  the  sentiment.  Accustoming 
boys  to  read  aloud  what  they  do  not  first  understand, 
is  the  cause  of  those  even,  set  tones,  so  common 
among  readers,  which,  when  they  have  once  got  a  habit 
of  using,  they  find  so  difficult  to  correct ;  by  which 
means,  among  fifty  readers,  we  scarcely  find  a  good 
one.  For  want  of  good  reading,  pieces  published  with 
a  view  to  influence  the  minds  of  men,  for  their  own 


128  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

or  the  public  benefit,  lose  half  their  force.  Were  there 
but  one  good  reader  in  a  neighbourhood,  a  public- 
orator  might  be  heard  throughout  a  nation  with  the 
same  advantages,  and  have  the  same  effect  upon  his 
audience,  as  if  they  stood  within  the  reach  of  his  voice. 

THE    THIRD    CLASS 

To  be  taught  speaking  properly  and  gracefully,  which 
is  near  akin  to  good  reading,  and  naturally  follows  it 
in  the  studies  of  youth.  Let  the  scholars  of  this  class 
begin  with  learning  the  elements  of  rhetoric  from  some 
short  system,  so  as  to  be  able  to  give  an  account  of 
the  most  useful  tropes  and  figures.  Let  all  their  bad 
habits  of  speaking,  all  offences  against  good  grammar, 
all  corrupt  or  foreign  accents,  and  all  improper  phrases, 
be  pointed  out  to  them.  Short  speeches  from  the 
Roman,  or  other  history,  or  from  the  parliamentary 
debates,  might  be  got  by  heart,  and  delivered  with 
the  proper  action,  &,c.  Speeches  and  scenes  in  our 
best  tragedies  and  comedies  (avoiding  every  thing  that 
could  injure  the  morals  of  youth)  might  likewise  be 
got  by  rote,  and  the  boys  exercised  in  delivering  or 
acting  them ;  great  care  being  taken  to  form  their 
manner  after  the  truest  models. 

For  their  further  improvement,  and  a  little  to  vary 
their  studies,  let  them  now  begin  to  read  history,  after 
having  got  by  heart  a  short  table  of  the  principal 
epochas  in  chronology.  They  may  begin  with  Rollin's 
Ancient  and  Roman  histories,  and  proceed  at  proper 
hours,  as  they  go  through  the  subsequent  classes,  with 
the  best  histories  of  our  own  nation  and  colonies.  Let 
emulation  be  excited  among  the  boys  by  giving,  week- 
ly, little  prizes,  or  other  small  encouragements,  to  those 
who  are  able  to  give  the  best  account  of  what  they 
have  read,  as  to  time,  places,  names  of  persons,  &,c. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  129 

This  will  make  them  read  with  attention,  and  imprint 
the  history  well  in  their  memories.  In  remarking  on 
the  history,  the  master  will  have  fine  opportunities  of 
instilling  instruction  of  various  kinds,  and  improving  the 
morals  as  well  as  the  understandings  of  youth. 

The  natural  and  mechanic  history,  contained  in  the 
Spectacle  de  la  Nature,  might  also  be  begun  in  this 
class,  and  continued  through  the  subsequent  classes, 
by  other  books  of  the  same  kind;  for,  next  to  the 
knowledge  of  duty,  this  kind  of  knowledge  is  certainly 
the  most  useful,  as  well  as  the  most  entertaining.  The 
merchant  may  thereby  be  enabled  better  to  understand 
many  commodities  in  trade;  the  handicraftsman  to 
improve  his  business,  by  new  instruments,  mixtures, 
and  materials ;  and  frequently  hints  are  given  for  new 
manufactures,  or  new  methods  of  improving  land,  that 
may  be  set  on  foot  greatly  to  the  advantage  of  a 
country. 

THE    FOURTH    CLASS 

To  be  taught  composition.  Writing  one's  own  lan- 
guage well  is  the  next  necessary  accomplishment  after 
good  speaking.  It  is  the  writing-master's  business  to 
take  care  that  the  boys  make  fair  characters,  and  place 
them  straight  and  even  in  the  lines ;  but  to  form  their 
style,  and  even  to  take  care  that  the  stops  and  capitals 
are  properly  disposed,  is  the  part  of  the  English  master. 
The  boys  should  be  put  on  writing  letters  to  each  other 
on  any  common  occurrences,  and  on  various  subjects, 
imaginary  business,  &,c.,  containing  little  stories,  ac- 
counts of  their  late  reading,  what  parts  of  authors 
please  them,  and  why;  letters  of  congratulation,  of 
compliment,  of  request,  of  thanks,  of  recommenda- 
tion, of  admonition,  of  consolation,  of  expostulation,  ex- 
cuse, &c.  In  these  they  should  be  taught  to  express 

VOL.  ii.  9 


130  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

themselves  clearly,  concisely,  and  naturally,  without  af- 
fected words  or  high-flown  phrases.  All  their  letters  to 
pass  through  the  master's  hand,  who  is  to  point  out  the 
faults,  advise  the  corrections,  and  commend  what  he 
finds  right.  Some  of  the  best  letters  published  in  our 
owrn  language,  as  Sir  William  Temple's,  those  of  Pope 
and  his  friends,  and  some  others,  might  be  set  before 
the  youth  as  models,  their  beauties  pointed  out  and 
explained  by  the  master,  the  letters  themselves  tran- 
scribed by  the  scholar. 

Dr.  Johnson's  Ethices  Elementa,  or  First  Principles 
of  Morality,  may  now  be  read  by  the  scholars,  and 
explained  by  the  master,  to  lay  a  solid  foundation  of 
virtue  and  piety  in  their  minds.  And  as  this  class 
continues  the  reading  of  history,  let  them  now,  at 
proper  hours,  receive  some  further  instruction  in  chro- 
nology, and  in  that  part  of  geography  (from  the  mathe- 
matical master),  which  is  necessary  to  understand  the 
maps  and  globes.  They  should  also  be  acquainted 
with  the  modern  names  of  the  places  they  find  men- 
tioned in  ancient  writers.  The  exercises  of  good  read- 
ing, and  proper  >  speaking,  still  continued  at  suitable 
times. 

FIFTH    CLASS. 

To  improve  the  youth  in  composition,  they  may  now, 
besides  continuing  to  write  letters,  begin  to  write  little 
essays  in  prose,  and  sometimes  in  verse ;  not  to  make 
them  poets,  but  for  this  reason,  that  nothing  acquaints  a 
lad  so  speedily  with  variety  of  expression  as  the  neces- 
sity of  finding  such  words  and  phrases  as  will  suit  the 
measure,  sound,  and  rhyme  of  verse,  and  at  the  same 
time  well  express  the  sentiment.  These  essays  should 
all  pass  under  the  master's  eye,  who  will  point  out  their 
faults,  and  put  the  writer  on  correcting  them.  Where 


MISCELLANEOUS.  131 

the  judgment  is  not  ripe  enough  for  forming  new 
essays,  let  the  sentiments  of  a  Spectator  be  given,  and 
required  to  be  clothed  in  the  scholar's  own  words; 
or  the  circumstances  of  some  good  story,  the  scholar  to 
find  expression.  Let  them  be  put  sometimes  on 
abridging  a  paragraph  of  a  diffuse  author;  sometimes 
on  dilating  or  amplifying  what  is  wrote  more  closely. 
And  now  let  Dr.  Johnson's  Noetica,  or  First  Principles 
of  Human  Khoivledge,  containing  a  logic,  or  art  of  rea- 
soning, &c.  be  read  by  the  youth,  and  the  difficulties 
thai  may  occur  to  them  be  explained  by  the  master. 
The  reading  of  history,  and  the  exercises  of  good  read- 
ing and  just  speaking,  still  continued. 

SIXTH    CLASS. 

In  this  class,  besides  continuing  the  studies  of  the 
preceding  in  history,  rhetoric,  logic,  moral  and  natural 
philosophy,  the  best  English  authors  may  be  read  and 
explained ;  as  Tillotson,  Milton,  Locke,  Addison,  Pope, 
Swift,  the  higher  papers  in  the  Spectator  and  Guardian, 
the  best  translations  of  Homer,  Virgil,  and  Horace,  of 
Telemachus,  Travels  of  Cyrus,  &,c. 

Once  a  year  let  there  be  public  exercises  in  the 
hall,  the  trustees  and  citizens  present.  Then  let 
fine  gilt  books  be  given  as  prizes  to  such  boys  as 
distinguish  themselves  and  excel  the  others  in  any 
branch  of  learning,  making  three  degrees  of  compari- 
son ;  giving  the  best  prize  to  him  that  performs  best, 
a  less  valuable  one  to  him  that  comes  up  next  to  the 
best,  and  another  to  the  third ;  commendations,  en- 
couragement, and  advice  to  the  rest ;  keeping  up  their 
hopes,  that  by  industry  they  may  excel  another  time. 
The  names  of  those  that  obtain  the  prize  to  be  yearly 
printed  in  a  list. 


132  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

The  hours  of  each  day  are  to  be  divided  and  dis- 
posed in  such  a  manner,  as  that  some  classes  may  be 
with  the  writing-master,  improving  their  hands ;  others 
with  the  mathematical  master,  learning  arithmetic,  ac- 
counts, geography,  use  of  the  globes,  drawing,  me- 
chanics, &c. ;  while  the  rest  are  in  the  English  school, 
under  the  English  master's  care. 

Thus  instructed,  youth  will  come  out  of  this  school 
fitted  for  learning  any  business,  calling,  or  profession, 
except  such  wherein  languages  are  required ;  and, 
though  unacquainted  with  any  ancient  or  foreign 
tongue,  they  will  be  masters  of  their  own,  which  is  of 
more  immediate  and  general  use,  and  withal  will  have 
attained  many  other  valuable  accomplishments ;  the 
time  usually  spent  in  acquiring  those  languages,  often 
without  success,  being  here  employed  in  laying  such  a 
foundation  of  knowledge  and  ability  as,  properly  im- 
proved, may  qualify  them  to  pass  through  and  execute 
the  several  offices  of  civil  life,  with  advantage  and 
reputation  to  themselves  and  country. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  133 


OBSERVATIONS 

REI/VTIVF    TO    THE    INTENTIONS    OF    THE    ORIGINAL    FOUNDERS    OF    THE 
ACADEMY    IN    PHILADELPHIA.      JUNE,    1789. 

As  the  English  school  in  the  Academy  has  been,  and 
still  continues  to  be,  a  subject  of  dispute  and  discus- 
sion among  the  trustees  since  the  restitution  of  the 
charter,  and  it  has  been  proposed  that  we  should  have 
some  regard  to  the  original  intention  of  the  founders  in 
establishing  that  school,  I  beg  leave,  for  your  informa- 
tion, to  lay  before  you  what  I  know  of  that  matter 
originally,  and  what  I  find  on  the  minutes  relating  to 
it,  by  which  it  will  appear  how  far  the  design  of  that 
school  has  been  adhered  to  or  neglected. 

Having  acquired  some  little  reputation  among  my 
fellow -citizens,  by  projecting  the  public  library  in  1732, 
and  obtaining  the  subscriptions  by  which  it  was  estab- 
lished ;  and  by  proposing  and  promoting,  with  success, 
sundry  other  schemes  of  utility  in  1749  ;  I  was  en- 
couraged to  hazard  another  project,  that  of  a  public 
education  for  our  youth.  As  in  the  scheme  of  the 
library  I  had  provided  only  for  English  books,  so  in 
this  new  scheme  my  ideas  went  no  further  than  to 
procure  the  means  of  a  good  English  education.  A 
number  of  my  friends,  to  whom  I  communicated  the 
proposal,  concurred  with  me  in  these  ideas;  but  Mr. 
Allen,  Mr.  Francis,  Mr.  Peters,  and  some  other  persons 
of  wealth  and  learning,  whose  subscriptions  and  coun- 
tenance we  should  need,  being  of  opinion  that  it  ought 
to  include  the  learned  languages,  I  submitted  my 
judgment  to  theirs,  retaining  however  a  strong  pre- 
possession in  favor  of  my  first  plan,  and  resolving  to 


134  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

preserve  as  much  of  it  as  I  could,  and  to  nourish  the 
English  school  by  every  means  in  my  power. 

Before  I  went  about  to  procure  subscriptions,  I 
thought  it  proper  to  prepare  the  minds  of  the  people 
by  a  pamphlet,  which  I  wrote,  and  printed,  and  dis- 
tributed with  my  newspapers  gratis.  The  title  was, 
Proposals  relating  to  the  Education  of  Youth  in  Penn- 
sylvania. I  happen  to  have  preserved  one  of  them  ; 
and,  by  reading  a  few  passages,  it  will  appear  how 
much  the  English  learning  was  insisted  upon  in  it; 
and  I  had  good  reasons  to  know  that  this  was  a  pre- 
vailing part  of  the  motives  for  subscribing  with  most 
of  the  original  benefactors.*  I  met  with  but  few 

*  That  the  Rector  be  a  man  of  good  understanding,  good  morals, 
diligent  and  patient,  learned  in  the  languages  and  sciences,  and  a  correct, 
pure  speaker  and  writer  of  the  English  tongue  ;  to  have  such  tutors  under 
him  as  shall  be  necessary. 

The  English  language  might  be  taught  by  grammar ;  in  which  some 
of  our  best  writers,  as  Tillotson,  Addison,  Pope,  Algernon  Sidney,  Cato's 
Letters,  &c.  should  be  classics ;  the  styles  principally  to  be  cultivated 
being  the  dear  and  the  concise.  Reading  should  also  be  taught,  and 
pronouncing  properly,  distinctly,  emphatically  ;  not  with  an  even  tone, 
which  under-does,  nor  a  theatrical,  which  over-does  nature. 

Mr.  Locke,  speaking  of  Grammar,  (p.  252,)  says,  that  "  To  those,  the 
greatest  part  of  whose  business  in  this  world  is  to  be  done  with  their 
tongue,  and  with  their  pens,  it  is  convenient,  if  not  necessary,  that  they 
should  speak  properly  and  correctly,  whereby  they  may  let  their  thoughts 
into  other  men's  minds  the  more  easily,  and  with  the  greater  impression. 
Upon  this  account  it  is,  that  any  sort  of  speaking,  so  as  will  make  him 
be  understood,  is  not  thought  enough  for  a  gentleman.  He  ought  to 
study  grammar,  among  the  other  helps  of  speaking  well ;  but  it  must  be 
the  grammar  of  his  own  tongue,  of  the  language  he  uses,  that  he  may 
understand  his  own  country  speech  nicely,  and  speak  it  properly,  without 
shocking  the  ears  of  those  it  is  addressed  to  with  solecisms  and  offensive 
H  regularities.  And  to  this  purpose  grammar  is  necessary ;  but  it  is  the 
grammar  only  of  their  own  proper  tongues,  and  to  those  who  would  take 
pains  in  cultivating  their  language,  and  perfecting  their  styles.  Whether 
all  gentlemen  should  not  do  this,  I  leave  to  be  considered ;  since  the 
want  of  propriety  and  grammatical  exactness  is  thought  very  misbecoming 
one  of  that  rank,  and  usually  draws  on  one,  guilty  of  such  faults,  the 
imputation  of  having  had  a  lower  breeding  and  worse  company  than  suit 
with  his  quality.  If  this  be  so,  (as  I  suppose  it  is,)  it  will  be  matter  of 


MISCELLANEOUS.  135 

refusals  in  soliciting  the  subscriptions ;  and  the  sum  was 
the  more  considerable,  as  I  had  put  the  contribution  on 
this  footing,  that  it  was  not  to  be  immediate,  and  the 
whole  paid  at  once,  but  in  parts,  a  fifth  annually  during 

wonder,  why  young  gentlemen  are  forced  to  learn  the  grammars  of 
foreign  and  dead  languages,  and  are  never  once  told  of  the  grammar  of 
their  own  tongues.  They  do  not  so  much  as  know  there  is  any  such  thing, 
much  less  is  it  made  their  business  to  be  instructed  in  it.  Nor  is  their 
own  language  ever  proposed  to  them  as  worthy  their  care  and  cultivating, 
though  they  have  daily  use  of  it,  and  are  not  seldom  in  the  future  course 
of  their  lives  judged  of  by  their  handsome  or  awkward  way  of  express- 
ing themselves  in  it  Whereas  the  languages,  whose  grammars  they 
have  been  so  much  employed  in,  are  such  as  probably  they  shall  scarce 
ever  speak  or  write  ;  or,  if  upon  occasion  this  should  happen,  they  should 
be  excused  for  the  mistakes  and  faults  they  make  in  it.  Would  not  a 
Chinese,  who  took  notice  of  this  way  of  breeding,  be  apt  to  imagine,  that 
all  our  young  gentlemen  were  designed  to  be  teachers  and  professors  of 
the  dead  languages  of  foreign  countries,  and  not  to  be  men  of  business 
in  their  own  ?  " 

The  same  author  adds,  (p.  255,)  "  That  if  grammar  ought  to  be  taught 
at  any  time,  it  must  be  to  one  that  can  speak  the  language  already; 
how  else  can  he  be  taught  the  grammar  of  it  ?  This  at  least  is  evident 
from  the  practice  of  the  wise  and  learned  nations  among  the  ancients. 
They  made  it  a  part  of  education,  to  cultivate  their  own,  not  foreign 
tongues.  The  Greeks  counted  all  other  nations  barbarous,  and  had  a 
contempt  for  their  languages.  And  though  the  Greek  learning  grew  in 
credit  among  the  Romans  towards  the  end  of  their  commonwealth,  yet 
it  was  the  Roman  tongue  that  was  made  the  study  of  their  youth.  Their 
own  language  they  were  to  make  use  of,  and  therefore  it  was  their  own 
language  they  were  instructed  and  exercised  in."  And,  (p.  281,)  "  There 
can  scarce  be  a  greater  defect,"  says  he,  "  in  a  gentleman,  than  not  to 
express  himself  well  either  in  writing  or  speaking.  But  yet  I  think  1 
may  ask  the  reader,  whether  he  doth  not  know  a  great  many,  who  live 
upon  their  estates,  and  so,  with  the  name,  should  have  the  qualities  of 
gentlemen,  who  cannot  so  much  as  tell  a  story  as  they  should,  much 
less  speak  clearly  and  persuasively  in  any  business.  This  I  think  not 
to  be  so  much  their  fault  as  the  fault  of  their  education."  Thus  far 
Locke. 

Monsieur  Rollin  reckons  the  neglect  of  teaching  their  own  tongue  a 
great  fault  in  the  French  universities.  He  spends  great  part  of  his  first 
volume  of  Belles  Lettres  on  that  subject;  and  lays  down  some  excellent 
rules  or  methods  of  teaching  French  to  Frenchmen  grammatically,  and 
making  them  masters  therein,  which  are  very  applicable  to  our  language, 
but  too  long  to  be  inserted  here.  He  practised  them  on  the  youth  under 
his  care  with  great  success. 


136  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

five  years.  To  put  the  machine  in  motion,  twenty- 
four  of  the  principal  subscribers  agreed  to  take  upon 
themselves  the  trust;  and  a  set  of  constitutions  for 
their  government,  and  for  the  regulation  of  the  schools, 

Mr.  Hutchinson,  (Dial.  p.  297,)  says,  "  To  perfect  them  in  the  knowl- 
edge of  their  mother  tongue,  they  should  learn  it  in  the  grammatical 
w  ay,  that  they  not  only  speak  it  purely,  but  be  able  both  to  correct  their 
own  idiom,  and  afterwards  enrich  the  language  on  the  same  foundation  " 

Dr.  Turnbull,  in  his  Observations  on  a  Liberal  Education,  says,  (p.  262,) 
"  The  Greeks,  perhaps,  made  more  early  advances  in  the  most  useful 
sciences  than  any  youth  have  done  since,  chiefly  on  this  account,  that 
they  studied  no  other  language  but  their  own.  This,  no  doubt,  saved 
them  very  much  time  ;  but  they  applied  themselves  carefully  to  the  study 
of  their  own  language,  and  were  early  able  to  speak  and  write  it  in  the 
greatest  perfection.  The  Roman  youth,  though  they  learned  the  Greek, 
did  not  neglect  their  own  tongue,  but  studied  it  more  carefully  than  we 
now  do  Greek  and  Latin,  without  giving  ourselves  any  trouble  about  our 
own  tongue." 

Monsieur  Simon,  in  an  elegant  Discourse  of  his  among  the  Memoirs 
of  the  Academy  of  Belles  Lettres  at  Paris,  speaking  of  the  stress  the 
Romans  laid  on  purity  of  language  and  graceful  pronunciation,  adds, 
"  May  I  here  make  a  reflection  on  the  education  we  commonly  give  our 
children  ?  It  is  very  remote  from  the  precepts  I  have  mentioned.  Hath 
the  child  arrived  to  six  or  seven  years  of  age,  he  mixes  with  a  herd  of 
ill-bred  boys  at  school,  where,  under  the  pretext  of  teaching  him  Latin, 
no  regard  is  had  to  his  mother  tongue.  And  what  happens  ?  What  we 
see  every  day.  A  young  gentleman  of  eighteen,  who  has  had  this 
education,  cannot  read.  For  to  articulate  the  words,  and  join  them 
together,  I  do  not  call  reading,  unless  one  can  pronounce  well,  observe 
all  the  proper  stops,  vary  the  voice,  express  the  sentiment,  and  read 
with  a  delicate  intelligence.  Nor  can  he  speak  a  jot  better.  A  proof 
of  this  is,  that  he  cannot  write  ten  lines  without  committing  gross  faults  ; 
and,  because  he  did  not  learn  his  own  language  well  in  his  early  years, 
he  will  never  know  it  well.  I  except  a  few,  who,  being  afterwards  en- 
gaged by  their  profession,  or  their  natural  taste,  cultivate  their  minds 
by  study.  And  yet  even  they,  if  they  attempt  to  write,  will  find  by  the 
labor  composition  costs  them,  what  a  loss  it  is,  not  to  have  learned  their 
language  in  the  proper  season.  Education  among  the  Romans  was  upon 
a  quite  different  footing.  Masters  of  rhetoric  taught  them  early  the 
principles,  the  difficulties,  the  beauties,  the  subtilties,  the  depths,  the 
riches  of  their  own  language.  When  they  went  from  these  schools,  they 
were  perfect  masters  of  it,  they  were  never  at  a  loss  for  proper  expres- 
sions ;  and  I  am  much  deceived  if  it  was  not  owing  to  this,  that  they 
produced  such  excellent  works  with  so  marvellous  facility" 

Pliny,  in  his  letter  to  a  lady  on  choosing  a  tutor  for  her  i-on,  sppaks 


MISCELLANEOUS.  137 

were  drawn  up  by  Mr.  Francis  and  myself,  which 
were  signed  by  us  all,  and  printed,  that  the  public 
might  know  what  was  to  be  expected.  I  wrote  also 
a  paper,  entitled,  Idea  of  an  English  School,  which 

of  it  as  the  most  material  thing  in  his  education,  that  he  should  have 
a  good  Latin  master  of  rhetoric,  and  recommends  Julius  Genitor  for  his 
eloquent,  open,  and  plain  faculty  of  speaking.  He  does  not  advise  her 
to  a  Greek  master  of  rhetoric,  though  the  Greeks  were  famous  for  that 
science  ;  but  to  a  Latin  master,  because  Latin  was  the  boy's  mother 
tongue.  In  the  above  quotation  from  Monsieur  Simon,  we  see  what  was 
the  office  and  duty  of  the  master  of  rhetoric. 

To  form  their  style,  they  should  be  put  on  writing  letters  to  each 
other,  making  abstracts  of  what  they  read ;  or  writing  the  same  things 
in  their  own  words ;  telling  or  writing  stories  lately  read,  in  their  own 
expressions.  All  to  be  revised  and  corrected  by  the  tutor,  who  should 
give  his  reasons,  explain  the  force  and  import  of  words,  &c. 

This  Mr.  Locke  recommends,  (Educ.  p.  284,)  and  says  ;  "  The  writing 
of  letters  has  so  much  to  do  in  all  the  occurrences  of  human  life,  that 
no  gentleman  can  avoid  showing  himself  in  this  kind  of  writing.  Occa- 
sions will  daily  force  him  to  make  this  use  of  his  pen,  which,  besides  the 
consequence  that,  in  his  affairs,  the  well  or  ill  managing  it  often  draws 
after  it,  always  lays  him  open  to  a  severer  examination  of  his  breeding, 
sense,  and  abilities,  than  oral  discourses,  whose  transient  faults,  dying 
for  the  most  part  with  the  sound  that  gives  them  life,  and  so  not  subject 
to  a  strict  review,  more  easily  escape  observation  and  censure." 

He  adds  ;  "  Had  the  methods  of  education  been  directed  to  their  right 
end,  one  would  have  thought  this  so  necessary  a  part  could  not  have 
been  neglected,  whilst  themes  and  verses  in  Latin,  of  no  use  at  all,  were 
so  constantly  everywhere  pressed,  to  the  racking  of  children's  invention 
beyond  their  strength,  and  hindering  their  cheerful  progress  by  unnatural 
difficulties.  But  custom  has  so  ordained  it,  and  who  dares  disobey  ?  And 
would  it  not  be  very  unreasonable  to  require  of  a  learned  country-school- 
master (who  has  all  the  tropes  and  figures  in  Farnaby's  Rhetoric  at  his 
fingers'  ends)  to  teach  his  scholar  to  express  hiuself  handsomely  in 
English,  when  it  appears  to  be  so  little  his  business  or  thought,  that 
the  boy's  mother  (despised,  't  is  like,  as  illiterate  for  not  having  read  a 
system  of  logic  or  rhetoric)  outdoes  him  in  it  ? 

"  To  speak  and  write  correctly  gives  a  grace,  and  gains  a  favorable 
atte  ition  to  what  one  has  to  say.  And  since  'tis  English  that  an  English- 
man will  have  constant  use  of,  that  is  the  language  he  should  chiefly 
culti  ate,  and  wherein  most  care  should  be  taken  to  polish  and  perfect  his 
style.  To  speak  or  write  better  Latin  than  English  may  make  a  man  be 
talked  of;  but  he  will  find  it  more  to  his  purpose  to  express  himself  well 
in  his  own  tongue,  that  he  uses  every  moment,  than  to  have  the  vain 
commendations  of  others  for  a  very  insignificant  quality.  This  I  find 


138  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

was  printed,  and  afterwards  annexed  to  Mr.  Peters* 
Sermon,  preached  at  the  opening  of  the  Academy. 
This  paper  was  said  to  be  for  the  consideration  of 
the  trustees ;  and  the  expectation  of  the  public,  that 

universally  neglected,  nor  no  care  taken  anywhere  to  improve  young 
men  in  their  own  language,  that  they  may  thoroughly  understand  and 
be  masters  of  it.  If  any  one  among  us  have  a  facility  or  purity  nioro 
than  ordinary  in  his  mother  tongue,  it  is  owing  to  chance,  or  his  genius, 
or  any  thing,  rather  than  to  his  education  or  any  care  of  his  teacher.  To 
mind  what  English  his  pupil  speaks  or  writes,  is  below  the  dignity  of 
one  bred  up  among  Greek  and  Latin,  though  he  have  but  little  of  them 
himself.  These  are  the  learned  languages,  fit  only  for  learned  men  to 
meddle  with  and  teach  ;  English  is  the  language  of  the  illiterate  vulgar. 
Though  the  great  men  among  the  Romans  were  daily  exercising  them- 
selves in  their  own  language  ;  and  we  find  yet  upon  the  record  the 
names  of  orators  who  taught  some  of  their  Emperors  Latin,  though  it 
were  their  mother  tongue.  'T  is  plain  the  Greeks  were  yet  more  nice 
in  theirs.  All  other  speech  was  barbarous  to  thsm  but  their  own,  and 
no  foreign  language  appears  to  have  been  studied  or  valued  amongst  that 
learned  and  acute  people ;  though  it  be  past  doubt  that  they  borrowed 
their  learning  and  philosophy  from  abroad." 

To  the  same  purpose  writes  a  person  of  eminent  learning  in  a  letter 
to  Dr.  Turnbull.  "  Nothing,  certainly,"  says  he,  "  can  be  of  more  service 
to  mankind  than  a  right  method  of  educating  the  youth,  and  I  should  be 

glad  to  hear to  give  an  example  of  the  great  advantage  it  would 

be  to  the  rising  age,  and  to  our  nation.  When  our  public  schools  were 
first  established,  the  knowledge  of  Latin  was  thought  learning ;  and  he 
that  had  a  tolerable  skill  in  two  or  three  languages,  though  his  mind  was 
not  enlightened  by  any  real  knowledge,  was  a  profound  scholar.  But  it 
is  not  so  at  present ;  and  people  confess,  that  men  may  have  obtained  a 
perfection  in  these,  and  yet  continue  deeply  ignorant.  The  Greek  educa- 
tion was  of  another  kind,"  (which  he  describes  in  several  particulars,  and 
adds,)  "  they  studied  to  write  their  own  tongue  more  accurately  than  we 
do  Latin  and  Greek.  But  where  is  English  taught  at  present?  Who 
thinks  it  of  use  to  study  correctly  that  language  which  he  is  to  use 
every  day  in  his  life,  be  his  station  ever  so  high,  or  ever  so  insignificant. 
It  is  in  this  the  nobility  and  gentry  defend  their  country,  and  serve 
their  prince  in  parliament ;  in  this  the  lawyers  plead,  the  divines  instruct, 
and  all  ranks  of  people  write  their  letters,  and  transact  all  their  affairs ; 
and  yet  who  thinks  it  worth  his  learning  to  write  this  even  accurately,  not 
to  say  politely  ?  Every  one  is  suffered  to  fosm  his  style  by  chance ;  to 
imitate  the  first  wretched  model  which  falls  in  his  way,  before  he  knowa 
what  is  faulty,  or  can  relish  the  beauties  of  a  just  simplicity.  Few  think 
their  children  qualified  for  a  trade  till  they  have  been  whipt  at  a  Latin 
school  for  five  or  six  years,  to  learn  a  little  of  that  which  they  are 


MISCELLANEOUS.  139 

the  idea  might  in  a  great  measure  be  carried  into  exe- 
cution, contributed  to  render  the  subscriptions  more 
liberal  as  well  as  more  general.  I  mention  my  con- 
cern in  these  transactions,  to  show  the  opportunity  I 
had  of  being  well  informed  in  the  points  I  am  relating. 

These  constitutions  are  upon  record  in  your  minutes ; 
and,  although  the  Latin  and  Greek  are  by  them  to  be 
taught,  the  original  idea  of  a  complete  English  educa- 
tion was  not  forgotten,  as  will  appear  by  the  following 
extracts. 

Page  1.  "The  English  tongue  is  to  be  taught  gram- 
matically, and  as  a  language." 

Page  4.  In  reciting  the  qualification  of  the  person 
to  be  appointed  rector,  it  is  said,  "  that  great  regard 
is  to  be  had  to  his  polite  speaking,  writing,  and  under- 
standing the  English  tongue." 

"  The  rector  was  to  have  two  hundred  pounds  a 
year,  for  which  he  was  to  be  obliged  to  teach  twenty 
boys,  without  any  assistance,  (and  twenty-five  more  for 
every  usher  provided  for  him,)  the  Latin  and  Greek 
languages ;  and  at  the  same  time  instruct  them  in 
history,  geography,  chronology,  logic,  rhetoric,  and  the 
English  tongue" 

"  The  rector  was  also,   on  all   occasions  consistent 

obliged  to  forget ;  when  in  those  years  right  education  would  have 
improved  their  minds,  and  taught  them  to  acquire  habits  of  writing  their 
oivn  language  easily  under  right  direction  ;  and  this  would  have  been 
useful  to  them  as  long  as  they  lived." —  Introd.  pp.  3-5. 

To  form  their  pronunciation,  they  may  be  put  on  making  declamations, 
repeating  speeches,  delivering  orations,  &c. ;  the  tutor  assisting  at  the 
rehearsals,  teaching,  advising,  correcting  their  accent,  &c.  By  pronun- 
ciation is  here  meant,  the  proper  modulation  of  the  voice,  to  suit  the 
subject  with  due  emphasis,  action,  &c.  In  delivering  a  discourse  in 
public,  designed  to  persuade,  the  manner,  perhaps,  contributes  more  to 
success,  than  either  the  mailer  or  method.  Yet  the  two  latter  seem  to 
engross  the  attention  of  most  preachers  and  other  public  speakers,  and  the 
former  to  be  almost  totally  neglected. 


140  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

with  his  duty  in  the  Latin  school,  to  assist  the  English 
master  in  improving  the  youth  under  his  care." 

Page  5.  "  The  trustees  shall,  with  all  convenient 
speed,  contract  with  any  person  that  offers,  whom  they 
shall  judge  most  capable  of  teaching  the  English  tongue 
grammatically  and  as  a  language,  history,  geography, 
chronology,  logic,  and  oratory;  which  person  shall  be 
styled  the  English  master.'" 

The  English  master  was  to  have  one  hundred  pounds 
a  year,  for  which  he  was  to  teach,  without  any  assist- 
ance, forty  scholars  the  English  tongue  grammatically ; 
and  at.  the  same  time  instruct  them  in  history,  geogra- 
phy, chronology,  logic,  and  oratory ;  and  sixty  scholars 
more  for  every  usher  provided  for  him. 

It  is  to  be  observed  in  this  place,  that  here  are 
two  distinct  courses  in  the  same  study,  that  is,  of  the 
same  branches  of  science,  viz.  history,  geography, 
chronology,  logic,  and  oratory,  to  be  carried  on  at 
the  same  time,  but  not  by  the  same  tutor  or  master. 
The  English  master  is  to  teach  his  scholars  all  those 
branches  of  science,  and  also  the  English  tongue 
grammatically,  as  a  language.  The  Latin  master  is 
to  teach  the  same  sciences  to  his  boys,  besides  the 
Greek  and  Latin.  He  was  also  to  assist  the  English 
master  occasionally,  without  which,  and  his  general 
care  in  the  government  of  the  schools,  the  giving  him 
double  salary  seems  not  well  accounted  for.  But  here 
are  plainly  two  distinct  schools  or  courses  of  education 
provided  for.  The  Latin  master  was  not  to  teach  the 
English  scholars  logic,  rhetoric,  &c. ;  that  was  the  duty 
of  the  English  master;  but  he  was  to  teach  those 
sciences  to  the  Latin  scholars.  We  shall  see,  hereafter, 
how  easily  this  original  plan  was  defeated  and  departed 
from. 

When   the   constitutions    were   first   drawn,   blanks 


MISCELLANEOUS.  141 

were  left  for  the  salaries,  and  for  the  number  of  boys 
the  Latin  master  was  to  teach.  The  first  instance  of 
partiality,  in  favor  of  the  Latin  part  of  the  institution, 
was  in  giving  the  title  of  rector  to  the  Latin  master, 
and  no  title  to  the  English  one.  But  the  most  striking 
instance  was,  when  we  met  to  sign,  and  the  blanks 
were  first  to  be  filled  up,  the  votes  of  a  majority  carried 
it  to  give  twice  as  much  salary  to  the  Latin  master 
as  to  the  English,  and  yet  require  twice  as  much  duty 
from  the  English  master  as  from  the  Latin,  viz.  200/. 
to  the  Latin  master  to  teach  twenty  boys;  100/.  to 
the  English  master  to  teach  forty !  However,  the 
trustees  who  voted  these  salaries  being  themselves  by 
far  the  greatest  subscribers,  though  not  the  most  nu- 
merous, it  was  thought  they  had  a  kind  of  right  to 
predominate  in  money  matters;  and  those,  who  had 
wished  an  equal  regard  might  have  been  shown  to 
both  schools,  submitted,  though  not  without  regret,  and 
at  times  some  little  complaining,  which,  with  their  not 
being  able  in  nine  months  to  find  a  proper  person  for 
English  master,  who  would  undertake  the  office  for 
so  low  a  salary,  induced  the  trustees  at  length,  viz. 
in  July,  1750,  to  offer  50/.  more. 

Another  instance  of  the  partiality  above  mentioned 
was  in  the  March  preceding,  when  100/.  sterling  was 
voted  to  buy  Latin  and  Greek  books,  maps,  drafts, 
and  instruments  for  the  use  of  the  Academy,  and 
nothing  for  the  English  books. 

The  great  part  of  the  subscribers,  who  had  the 
English  education  chiefly  in  view,  were  however 
soothed  into  a  submission  to  these  partialities,  chiefly 
by  the  expectation  given  them  by  the  constitution,  viz. 
that  the  trustees  would  make  it  their  pleasure,  and  in 
some  degree  their  business,  to  visit  the  Academy  often, 
to  encourage  and  countenance  the  youth,  look  on  the 


142  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

students  as  in  some  measure  their  own  children, -treat 
them  with  familiarity  and  affection ;  and,  when  they 
have  behaved  well,  gone  through  their  studies,  and  are 
to  enter  the  world,  the  trustees  shall  zealously  unite, 
and  make  all  the  interest  that  can  be  made,  to  pro- 
mote and  establish  them,  whether  in  business,  offices, 
marriages,  or  any  other  thing  for  their  advantage,  pre- 
ferable to  all  other  persons  whatsoever,  even  of  equal 
merit. 

These  splendid  promises  dazzled  the  eyes  of  the 
public.  The  trustees  were  most  of  them  the  principal 
gentlemen  of  the  province.  Children  taught  in  other 
schools  had  no  reason  to  expect  such  powerful  patron- 
age. The  subscribers  had  placed  such  entire  con- 
fidence in  them  as  to  leave  themselves  no  power  of 
changing  them,  if  their  conduct  of  the  plan  should  be 
disapproved ;  and  so,  in  hopes  of  the  best,  all  these 
partialities  were  submitted  to. 

Near  a  year  passed  before  a  proper  person  was 
found  to  take  charge  of  the  English  school.  At  length 
Mr.  Dove,  who  had  been  many  years  master  of  a  school 
in  England,  and  had  come  hither  with  an  apparatus 
for  giving  lectures  in  experimental  philosophy,  was  pre- 
vailed with  by  me,  after  his  lectures  were  finished,  to 
accept  that  employment  for  the  salary  offered,  though 
he  thought  it  too  scanty.  He  had  a  good  voice,  read 
perfectly  well,  with  proper  accent  and  just  pronuncia- 
tion, and  his  method  of  communicating  habits  of  the 
same  kind  to  his  pupils  was  this.  When  he  gave  a 
lesson  to  one  of  them,  he  always  first  read  it  to  him 
aloud,  with  all  the  different  modulations  of  voice,  that 
the  subject  and  sense  required.  These  the  scholars, 
in  studying  and  repeating  the  lesson,  naturally  endeav- 
oured to  imitate;  and  it  was  really  surprising  to  see 
how  soon  they  caught  his  manner,  which  convinced 


MISCELLANEOUS.  143 

me  and  others  who  frequently  attended  his  school,  that, 
though  bad  tones  and  manners  in  reading  are,  when 
once  acquired,  rarely,  with  difficulty,  if  ever  cured,  yet, 
when  none  have  been  already  formed,  good  ones  are 
as  easily  learned  as  bad.  In  a  few  weeks  after  open- 
ing his  school,  the  trustees  were  invited  to  hear  the 
scholars  read  and  recite.  The  parents  and  relations 
of  the  boys  also  attended.  The  performances  were 
surprisingly  good,  and  of  course  were  admired  and 
applauded ;  and  the  English  school  thereby  acquired 
such  reputation,  that  the  number  of  Mr.  Dove's  scholars 
soon  amounted  to  upwards  of  ninety,  which  numbei 
did  not  diminish  as  long  as  he  continued  master,  viz. 
upwards  of  two  years ;  but,  he  finding  the  salary  in- 
sufficient, and  having  set  up  a  school  for  girls  in  his 
own  house  to  supply  the  deficiency,  and  quitting  the 
boys'  school  somewhat  before  the  hour  to  attend  the 
girls,  the  trustees  disapproved  of  his  so  doing,  and  he 
quitted  their  employment,  continued  his  girls'  school, 
and  opened  one  for  boys  on  his  own  account.  The 
trustees  provided  another  English  master;  but,  though 
a  good  man,  yet  not  possessing  the  talents  of  an 
English  schoolmaster  in  the  same  perfection  with  Mr. 
Dove,  the  school  diminished  daily,  and  soon  was  found 
to  have  but  about  forty  scholars  left.  The  perform- 
ances of  the  boys,  in  reading  and  speaking,  were  no 
longer  so  brilliant ;  the  trustees  of  course  had  not  the 
same  pleasure  in  hearing  them,  and  the  monthly  visita- 
tions, which  had  so  long  afforded  a  delightful  enter- 
tainment to  large  audiences,  became  less  and  less 
attended,  and  at  length  discontinued ;  and  the  English 
school  has  never  since  recovered  its  original  reputation. 
Thus,  by  our  injudiciously  starving  the  English  part 
of  our  scheme  of  education,  we  only  saved  fifty  pounds 
a  year,  which  was  required  as  an  additional  salary  to 


144  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

an  acknowledged  excellent  English  master,  which 
would  have  equalled  his  encouragement  to  that  of  the 
Latin  master;  I  say,  by  saving  the  50/.  we  lost  fifty 
scholars,  which  would  have  been  200/.  a  year,  and 
defeated,  besides,  one  great  end  of  the  institution. 

In  the  mean  time  our  favors  were  showered  upon 
the  Latin  part ;  the  number  of  teachers  was  increased, 
and  their  salaries  from  time  to  time  augmented,  till,  if 
I  mistake  not,  they  amounted  in  the  whole  to  more  than 
600/.  a  year,  though  the  scholars  hardly  ever  exceeded 
sixty;  so  that  each  scholar  cost  the  funds  10/.  per 
annum,  while  he  paid  but  4/.,  which  was  a  loss  of  61. 
every  one  of  them. 

The  monthly  visitations  of  the  schools  by  the  trustees 
having  been  long  neglected,  the  omission  was  com- 
plained of  by  the  parents  as  a  breach  of  original  prom- 
ise;  whereupon  the  trustees,  July  llth,  1755,  made  it 
a  law,  that  "  they  should  meet  on  the  second  Tuesday 
in  every  month  at  the  Academy,  to  visit  the  schools, 
examine  the  scholars,  hear  their  public  exercises,  &c." 
This  good  law,  however,  like  many  others,  was  not  long 
observed;  for  I  find  by  a  minute  of  December  14th, 
1756,  that  the  examination  of  the  schools  by  the 
trustees  had  been  long  neglected,  and  it  was  agreed 
that  it  should  thereafter  be  done  on  the  first  Monday 
in  every  month;  and  yet,  notwithstanding  this  new 
rule,  the  neglect  returned,  so  that  we  are  informed,  by 
another  minute  of  January  13th,  1761,  "that  for  five 
months  past  there  had  not  been  one  meeting  of  the 
trustees."  In  the  course  of  fourteen  years  several  of 
the  original  trustees,  who  had  been  disposed  to  favor 
the  English  school,  deceased,  and  others  not  so  favor- 
able were  chosen  to  supply  their  places ;  however,  it 
appears  by  the  minutes,  that  the  remainder  had  some- 
rimes  weight  enough  to  recall  the  attention  of  their 


MISCELLANEOUS.  145 

colleagues  to  that  school,  and  obtain  acknowledgments 
of  the  unjust  neglect  it  had  been  treated  with ;  of  this 
the  following  extracts  from  the  minutes  are  authentic 
proofs,  viz.  (Minute  Book,  Vol.  I.,  February  8th,  1763 ;) 
"  The  state  of  the  English  school  was  taken  into  con- 
sideration, and  it  was  observed,  that  Mr.  Kinnersley's 
time  was  entirely  taken  up  in  teaching  little  boys  the 
elements  of  the  English  language  (this  is  what  it 
dwindled  into,  a  school  similar  to  those  kept  by  old 
women,  who  teach  children  their  letters);  and  that 
speaking  and  rehearsing  in  public  were  totally  disused, 
to  the  great  prejudice  of  the  other  scholars  and  stu- 
dents, and  contrary  to  the  original  design  of  the  trustees 
in  the  forming  of  that  school ;  and,  as  this  was  a  matter 
of  great  importance,  it  was  particularly  recommended 
to  be  fully  considered  by  the  trustees  at  their  next 
meeting."  At  their  next  meeting  it  was  not  considered ; 
but  this  minute  contains  full  proof  of  the  fact,  that  the 
English  education  had  been  neglected,  and  it  contains 
an  acknowledgment  that  the  conduct  of  the  English 
school  was  contrary  to  the  original  design  of  the 
trustees  in  forming  it. 

In  the  same  book  of  minutes  we  find  the  following, 
of  April  12th,  1763.  "The  state  of  the  English  school 
was  again  taken  into  consideration ;  and  it  was  the 
opinion  of  the  trustees  that  the  ORIGINAL  DESIGN 
should  be  prosecuted,  of  teaching  the  scholars  (of  that 
and  the  other  schools)  the  elegance  of  the  English 
language,  and  giving  them  a  proper  pronunciation ;  and 
that  the  old  method  of  hearing  them  read  and  repeat  in 
public  should  be  again  used.  And  a  committee  was 
appointed  to  confer  with  Mr.  Kinnersley  how  this  might 
best  be  done,  as  well  as  what  assistance  would  be 
necessary  to  give  Mr.  Kinnersley  to  enable  him  to 

VOL.    II,  10 


146  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

attend  this  necessary  service,  which  was  indeed  the 
PROPER  BUSINESS  of  his  professorship." 

In  this  minute  we  have  another  acknowledgment  of 
what  was  the  original  design  of  the  English  school; 
but  here  are  some  words  thrown  in  to  countenance  an 
innovation,  which  had  been  for  some  time  practised. 
The  words  are,  "and  the  other  schools."  Originally, 
by  the  constitutions,  the  rector  was  to  teach  the  Latin 
scholars  their  English.  The  words  of  the  constitution 
are,  "  The  rector  shall  be  obliged,  without  the  assistance 
of  any  usher,  to  teach  twenty  scholars  the  Latin  and 
Greek  languages,  and  the  English  tongue."  To  en- 
able him  to  do  this,  we  have  seen  that  some  of  his 
qualifications,  indispensably  required,  were,  his  polite 
speaking,  ivriting,  and  understanding  the  English  tongue. 
Having  these,  he  was  enjoined,  on  all  occasions  con- 
sistent with  his  other  duties,  to  assist  the  English 
master  in  improving  the  boys  under  his  care;  but 
there  is  not  a  word  obliging  the  English  master  to 
teach  the  Latin  boys  English.  However,  the  Latin 
masters,  either  unable  to  do  it,  or  unwilling  to  take 
the  trouble,  had  got  him  up  among  them,  and  employed 
so  much  of  his  time,  that  this  minute  owns  he  could 
not,  without  farther  assistance,  attend  the  necessary 
service  of  his  own  school,  which,  as  the  minute  ex- 
pressly says,  "  was  indeed  the  proper  business  of  his 
professorship." 

Notwithstanding  this  good  resolution  of  the  trustees, 
it  seems  the  execution  of  it  was  neglected ;  and,  the 
public  not  being  satisfied,  they  were  again  haunted 
by  the  friends  of  the  children  with  the  old  complaint, 
that  the  original  constitutions  were  not  complied  with, 
in  regard  to  the  English  school.  Their  situation  was 
unpleasant.  On  the  one  hand,  there  were  still  remain- 


MISCELLANEOUS.  147 

ing  some  of  the  first  trustees,  who  were  friends  to  the 
scheme  of  English  education,  and  these  would  now 
and  then  be  remarking  that  it  was  neglected,  and 
would  be  moving  for  a  reformation ;  the  constitutions 
at  the  same  time,  staring  the  trustees  in  the  face,  gave 
weight  to  these  remarks.  On  the  other  hand,  the 
Latinists  were  combined  to  decry  the  English  school 
as  useless.  It  was  without  example,  they  said,  as 
indeed  they  still  say,  that  a  school  for  teaching  the 
vulgar  tongue,  and  the  sciences  in  that  tongue,  was 
ever  joined  with  a  college,  and  that  the  Latin  masters 
were  fully  competent  to  teach  the  English. 

I  will  not  say  that  the  Latinists  looked  on  every 
expense  upon  the  English  school  as  so  far  disabling 
the  trustees  from  augmenting  their  salaries,  and  there- 
fore regarding  it  with  an  evil  eye ;  but,  when  I  find 
the  minutes  constantly  filled  with  their  applications  for 
higher  wages,  I  cannot  but  see  their  great  regard  for 
money  matters,  and  suspect  a  little  their  using  their 
interest  and  influence  to  prevail  with  the  trustees  net 
to  encourage  that  school.  And,  indeed,  the  following 
minute  is  so  different  in  spirit  and  sentiment  from  that 
last  recited,  that  one  cannot  avoid  concluding  that  some 
extraordinary  pains  must  have  been  taken  with  the 
trustees  between  the  two  meetings  of  April  12th  and 
June  13th,  to  produce  a  resolution  so  very  different, 
which  here  follows  in  this  minute,  viz.  "June  13th,  1763  ; 
Some  of  the  parents  of  the  children  in  the  Academy 
having  complained  that  their  children  were  not  taught 
to  speak  and  read  in  public,  and  having  requested  that 
this  useful  part  of  education  might  be  more  attended 
to,  Mr.  Kinnersley  was  called  in,  and  desired  to  give 
an  account  of  what  was  -done  in  this  branch  of  his 
duty ;  and  he  declared  that  this-  was  well  taught,  not 
only  in  the  English  school,  which  was  more  immediately 


148  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

under  his  care,  but  in  the  philosophy  classes,  regularly 
every  Monday  afternoon,  and  as  often  at  other  times  as 
his  other  business  would  permit.  And  it  not  appearing 
to  the  trustees  that  any  more  could  at  present  be  done, 
without  partiality  and  great  inconvenience,  and  that  this 
was  all  that  was  ever  proposed  to  be  done,  they  did 
not  incline  to  make  any  alteration,  or  to  lay  any  farther 
burthen  on  Mr.  Kinnersley."  Note  here,  that  the 
English  school  had  not  for  some  years  preceding  been 
visited  by  the  trustees.  If  it  had,  they  would  have 
known  the  state  of  it  without  making  this  inquiry  of 
the  master.  They  might  have  judged,  whether  the 
children  more  immediately  under  his  care  were  in  truth 
well  taught,  without  taking  his  word  for  it,  as  it  appears 
they  did.  But  it  seems  he  had  a  merit,  which,  when 
he  pleaded  it,  effectually  excused  him.  He  spent  his 
time  when  out  of  the  English  school  in  instructing  the 
philosophy  classes  who  were  of  the  Latin  part  of  the 
institution.  Therefore  they  did  not  think  proper  to  lay 
any  further  burthen  upon  him. 

It  is  a  little  difficult  to  conceive  how  these  trustees 
could  bring  themselves  to  declare,  that  "  No  more  could 
be  done  in  the  English  school  than  was  then  done, 
and  that  it  was  all  that  was  ever  proposed  to  be  done ;" 
when  their  preceding  minute  declares,  that  "  the  origi- 
nal design  was  teaching  scholars  the  elegance  of  the 
English  language,  and  giving  them  a  proper  pronun- 
ciation ;  and  that  hearing  them  read  and  repeat  in 
public  was  the  old  method,  and  should  be  again  used." 
And,  certainly,  the  method  that  had  been  used  might 
be  again  used,  if  the  trustees  had  thought  fit  to  order 
Mr.  Kinnersley  to  attend  his  own  school,  and  not  spend 
his  time  in  the  philosophy  classes,  where  his  duty  did 
not  require  .his  attendance.  What  the  apprehended 
partiality  was,  which  the  minute  mentions,  does  not 


MISCELLANEOUS.  149 

appear,  and  cannot  easily  be  imagined ;  and  the  great 
inconvenience  of  obliging  him  to  attend  his  own  school 
could  only  be  depriving  the  Latinists  of  his  assistance, 
to  which  they  had  no  right. 

The  trustees  may  possibly  have  supposed,  that  by 
this  resolution  they  had  precluded  all  future  attempts 
to  trouble  them  with  respect  to  their  conduct  of  the 
English  school.  The  parents  indeed,  despairing  of  any 
reformation,  withdrew  their  children,  and  placed  them 
in  private  schools,  of  which  several  now  appeared  in 
the  city,  professing  to  teach  what  had  been  promised 
to  be  taught  in  the  Academy;  and  they  have  since 
flourished  and  increased  by  the  scholars  the  Academy 
might  have  had,  if  it  had  performed  its  engagements. 
But  the  public  was  not  satisfied ;  and  we  find,  five 
years  after,  the  English  school  appearing  again,  after 
five  years'  silence,  haunting  the  trustees  like  an  evil 
conscience,  and  reminding  them  of  their  failure  in  duty. 
For,  of  their  meetings  Jan.  19th  and  26th,  1768,  we  find 
these  minutes.  "Jan.  19th,  1768;  It  having  been  re- 
marked, that  the  schools  suffer  in  the  public  esteem 
by  the  discontinuance  of  public  speaking,  a  special 
meeting  is  to  be  called  on  Tuesday  next,  to  consider 
the  state  of  the  English  school,  and  to  regulate  such 
matters  as  may  be  necessary."  "  Jan.  26th  ;  A  special 
meeting.  It  is  agreed  to  give  Mr.  Jon.  Easton  and 
Mr.  Thomas  Hall,  at  the  rate  of  twenty-five  pounds 
per  annum  each,  for  assisting  Mr.  Kinnersley  in  the 
English  school,  and  taking  care  of  the  same  when  he 
shall  be  employed  in  teaching  the  students,  in  the  phi- 
losophy classes  and  grammar  school,  the  art  of  public 
speaking.  A  committee,  Mr.  Peters,  Mr.  Coxe,  and 
Mr.  Duche,  with  the  masters,  was  appointed  to  fix 
rules  and  times  for  employing  the  youth  in  public 
speaking.  Mr.  Easton  and  Mr.  Hall  are  to  be  paid 


150  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

out  of  a  fund  to  be  raised  by  some  public  performance 
for  the  benefit  of  the  college." 

It  appears  from  these  minutes,  1.  That  the  reputation 
of  the  Academy  had  suffered  in  the  public  esteem  by 
the  trustees'  neglect  of  that  school.  2.  That  Mr. 
Kinnersley,  wh^se  sole  business  it  was  to  attend  it,  had 
been  called  from  his  duty  and  employed  in  the  phi- 
losophy classes  and  Latin  grammar  school,  teaching  the 
scholars  there  the  art  of  public  speaking,  which  the 
Latinists  used  to  boast  they  could  teach  themselves. 
3.  That  the  neglect  for  so  many  years  of  the  English 
scholars,  by  this  subtraction  of  their  master,  was  now 
acknowledged,  and  proposed  to  be  remedied  for  the 
future  by  engaging  two  persons,  Mr.  Hall  and  Mr. 
Easton,  at  twenty-five  pounds  per  annum,  to  take  care 
of  those  scholars,  while  Mr.  Kinnersley  was  employed 
among  the  Latinists. 

Care  was  however  taken  by  the  trustees,  not  to  be 
at  any  expense  for  this  assistance  to  Mr.  Kinnersley ; 
for  Hall  and  Easton  were  only  to  be  paid  out  of  the 
uncertain  fund  of  money  to  be  raised  by  some  public 
performance  for  the  benefit  of  the  college. 

A  committee  was  however  now  appointed  to  fix  rules 
and  times  for  employing  the  youth  in  public  speaking. 
Whether  any  thing  was  done  in  consequence  of  these 
minutes,  does  not  appear;  no  report  of  the  committee 
respecting  their  doings  being  to  be  found  on  the 
records,  and  the  probability  is  that  they  did,  as  hereto- 
fore, nothing  to  the  purpose.  For  the  English  school 
continued  to  decline,  and  the  first  subsequent  mention 
we  find  made  of  it,  is  in  the  minute  of  March  21st, 
1769,  when  the  design  began  to  be  entertained  of 
abolishing  it  altogether,  whereby  the  Latinists  would 
get  rid  of  an  eyesore,  and  the  trustees  of  what  occa- 
sioned them  such  frequent  trouble.  The  minute  is 


MISCELLANEOUS.  151 

this ;  "  The  state  of  the  English  school  is  to  be  taken 
into  consideration  at  next  meeting,  and  whether  it  be 
proper  to  continue  it  on  its  present  footing  or  not." 
This  consideration  was,  however,  not  taken  at  the  next 
meeting,  at  least  nothing  was  concluded  so  as  to  be 
minuted ;  nor  do  we  find  any  farther  mention  of  the 
English  school  till  the  18th  of  July,  when  the  following 
minute  was  entered ;  viz.  "  A  special  meeting  is  ap- 
pointed to  be  held  on  Monday  next,  and  notice  to  be 
given,  that  the  design  of  this  meeting  is  to  consider 
whether  the  English  school  is  to  be  longer  continued." 

This  special  meeting  was  accordingly  held  on  the 
23d  of  July,  1769,  of  which  date  is  the  following 
minute  and  resolution ;  viz.  "  The  trustees  at  this  meet- 
ing, as  well  as  several  former  ones,  having  taken  into 
their  serious  consideration  the  state  of  the  English 
school,  are  unanimously  of  opinion,  that,  as  the  said 
school  is  far  from  defraying  the  expense  at  which  they 
now  support  it,  and  not  thinking  that  they  ought  to 
lay  out  any  great  part  of  the  funds  intrusted  to  them 
on  this  branch  of  education,  which  can  so  easily  be 
procured  at  other  schools  in  this  city,  have  resolved, 
that,  from  and  after  the  17th  of  October  next,  Mr. 
Kinnersley's  present  salary  do  cease,  and  that  from 
that  time  the  said  school,  if  he  shall  be  inclined  to 
keep  it,  shall  be  on  the  following  footing ;  viz.  that  he 
shall  have  the  free  use  of  the  room  where  he  now 
teaches,  and  also  the  whole  tuition-money  arising  from 
the  boys  that  may  be  taught  by  him,  and  that  he 
continue  professor  of  English  and  oratory,  and,  as  such, 
have  the  house  he  lives  in  rent-free,  in  consideration 
of  his  giving  two  afternoons  in  the  week  as  heretofore, 
for  the  instruction  of  the  students  belonging  to  the 
college  in  public  speaking,  agreeable  to  such  rules  as 
are  or  shall  be  made  for  that  purpose  by  the  trustees 


152  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

and  faculty.  It  is  further  ordered  by  this  legulation, 
that  the  boys  belonging  to  his  school  shall  be  still 
considered  as  part  of  the  youth  belonging  to  the  col- 
lege, and  under  the  same  general  government  of  the 
trustees  and  faculty ;  and  such  of  his  scholars  as  may 
attend  the  mathematical  or  any  other  master  having  a 
salary  from  the  college,  for  any  part  of  their  time,  shall 
pay  proportionably  into  the  fund  of  the  trustees,  to  be 
accounted  for  by  Mr.  Kinnersley,  and  deducted  out  of 
the  twenty  pounds  per  quarter  now  paid  by  the 
English  scholars." 

The  trustees  hope  this  regulation  may  be  agreeable 
to  Mr.  Kinnersley,  as  it  proceeds  entirely  from  the 
reasons  set  forth  above,  and  not  from  any  abatement 
of  that  esteem  which  they  have  always  retained  for 
him,  during  the  whole  course  of  his  services  in  college. 

Upon  this  and  some  of  the  preceding  minutes,  may 
be  observed;  1.  That,  the  English  school  having  been 
long  neglected,  the  scholars  were  so  diminished  in 
number  as  to  be  far  from  defraying  the  expense  in 
supporting  it.  2.  That,  the  instruction  they  received 
there,  instead  of  a  complete  English  education,  which 
had  been  promised  to  the  subscribers  by  the  original 
constitutions,  were  only  such  as  might  easily  be  pro- 
cured at  other  schools  in  this  city.  3.  That  this  un- 
profitableness of  the  English  school,  owing  to  neglect 
of  duty  in  the  trustees,  was  now  offered  as  a  reason 
for  demolishing  it  altogether.  For  it  was  easy  to  see, 
that,  after  depriving  the  master  of  his  salary,  he  could 
not  long  afford  to  continue  it.  4.  That  if  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  the  tuition-money  in  the  English  school  to 
pay  the  expense,  and  the  ease  with  which  the  scholars 
might  obtain  equal  instruction  in  other  schools,  were 
good  reasons  for  depriving  the  master  of  his  salary  and 
destroying  that  school,  they  were  equally  good  for 


MISCELLANEOUS.  153 

dismissing  the  Latin  masters,  and  sending  their  scholars 
to  other  schools ;  since  it  is  notorious  that  the  tuition- 
money  of  the  Latin  school  did  not  pay  much  above  a 
fourth  part  of  the  salaries  of  the  masters.  For  such 
reasons  the  trustees  might  equally  well  have  got  rid 
of  all  the  scholars  and  all  the  masters,  and  remained  in 
fill]  possession  of  all  the  college  property,  without  any 
future  expense.  5.  That  by  their  refusing  any  longer 
to  support,  instead  of  reforming,  as  they  ought  to  have 
done,  the  English  school,  they  shamefully  broke  through 
and  set  at  nought  the  original  constitutions,  for  the 
due  execution  of  which  the  faith  of  the  original  trustees 
had  been  solemnly  pledged  to  the  public,  and  diverted 
the  revenues,  proceeding  from  much  of  the  first  sub- 
scriptions, to  other  purposes  than  those  which  had  been 
promised.  Had  the  Assembly,  when  disposed  to  dis- 
franchise the  trustees,  set  their  foot  upon  this  ground, 
their  proceeding  to  declare  the  forfeiture  would  have 
been  more  justifiable;  and  it  may  be  hoped  care  will 
now  be  taken  not  to  give  any  future  Assembly  the  same 
handle. 

It  seems,  however,  that  this  unrighteous  resolve  did 
not  pass  the  trustees  without  a  qualm  in  some  of  them. 
For  at  the  next  meeting  a  reconsideration  was  moved, 
and  we  find  the  following  minute  under  the  date  of 
August  1st,  1769  ;  "  The  minute  of  last  meeting  relative 
to  the  English  school  was  read,  and  after  mature 
deliberation  and  reconsidering  the  same,  it  was  voted 
to  stand  as  it  is,  provided  it  should  not  be  found  any 
way .  repugnant  to  the  first  charter  granted  to  the 
Academy,  a  copy  of  which  was  ordered  to  be  procured 
out  of  the  rolls  office." 

One  might  have  thought  it  natural  for  the  trustees 
to  have  consulted  this  charter  before  they  took  the 
resolution,  and  not  only  the  first  charter,  but  the 


154  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

original  constitutions ;  but,  as  it  seems  they  had  lost 
the  instrument  containing  the  charter,  and,  though  it 
had  been  printed,  not  one  of  them  was  furnished  with 
a  copy  to  which  he  might  refer,  it  is  no  wonder  that 
they  had  forgot  the  constitutions  made  twenty  years 
before,  to  which  they  do  not  seem  to  have  in  the  least 
adverted. 

Probably,  however,  the  trustees  found,  when  they 
came  to  examine  original  papers,  that  they  could  not 
easily  get  entirely  rid  of  the  English  school,  and  so 
concluded  to  continue  it.  For  I  find  in  a  law  for 
premiums,  minuted  under  the  date  of  Jan.  29th,  1770, 
that  the  English  and  mathematical  school  is  directed 
to  be  examined  the  third  Tuesday  in  July,  and  a  pre- 
mium book  of  the  value  of  one  dollar  was  to  be  given 
to  him  that  reads  best,  and  understands  best  the 
English  grammar,  &c.  This  is  very  well;  but  to  keep 
up  the  old  partiality  in  favor  of  the  Latin  school,  the 
premium  to  its  boys  was  to  be  of  the  value  of  two 
dollars.  In  the  premiums  for  best  speaking,  they  were 
indeed  put  upon  an  equality. 

After  reading  this  law  for  premiums,  I  looked  forward 
to  the  third  Tuesday  in  July  with  some  pleasing  ex- 
pectation of  their  effect  on  the  examination  required 
for  that  day.  But  I  met  with  only  this  further  record 
of  the  inattention  of  the  trustees  to  their  new  resolu- 
tions and  even  laws,  when  they  contained  any  thing 
favorable  to  the  English  school.  The  minute  is  only 
this ;  "  July,  August,  September,  October,  no  business 
done." 

On  the  20th  of  November,  however,  I  find  there 
was  an  examination  of  the  Latin  school,  and  premiums, 
with  pompous  inscriptions,  afterwards  adjudged  to  Latin 
scholars ;  but  I  find  no  mention  of  any  to  the  English, 
or  that  they  were  even  examined.  Perhaps  there 


MISCELLANEOUS.  155 

might  have  been  none  to  examine,  or  the  school  dis- 
continued; for  it  appears  by  a  minute  of  July  21st, 
following,  that  the  provost  was  desired  to  advertise  for 
a  master  able  to  teach  English  grammatically,  which 
it  seems  was  all  the  English  master  was  now  required 
to  teach,  the  other  branches  originally  promised  being 
dropt  entirely. 

In  October,  1772,  Mr.  Kinnersley  resigned  his  pro- 
fessorship, when  Dr.  Peters  and  others  were  appointed 
to  consider  on  what  footing  the  English  school  shall 
be  put  for  the  future,  that  a  new  master  may  be 
thought  of,  and  Mr.  Willing  to  take  care  of  the  school 
for  the  present  at  fifty  pounds  per  annum.  It  is  ob- 
servable here  that  there  is  no  mention  of  putting  it  on 
its  original  footing,  and  the  salary  is  shrunk  amazingly ; 
but  this  resignation  of  Mr.  Kinnersley  gave  occasion 
to  one  testimony  of  the  utility  of  the  English  professor 
to  the  institution,  notwithstanding  all  the  partiality, 
neglect,  slights,  discouragements,  and  injustice  that 
school  had  suffered.  We  find  it  in  the  minutes  of  a 
special  meeting  on  the  2d  of  February,  1773,  present 
Dr.  Peters,  Mr.  Chew,  Mr.  Lawrence,  Mr.  Willing, 
Mr.  Trettel,  and  Mr.  Inglis,  and  expressed  in  these 
strong  terms. 

"  The  college  suffers  greatly  since  Mr.  Kinnersley 
left  it,  for  want  of  a  person  to  teach  public  speaking, 
so  that  the  present  classes  have  not  those  opportunities 
of  learning  to  declaim  and  speak  which  have  been  of 
so  much  use  to  their  predecessors,  and  have  contri- 
buted greatly  to  raise  the  credit  of  the  institution." 

Here  is  another  confession  that  the  Latinists  were 
unequal  to  the  task  of  teaching  English  eloquence, 
though  on  occasion  the  contrary  is  still  asserted. 

I  flatter  myself,  Gentlemen,  that  it  appears  by  this  time 
pretty  clearly  from  our  own  minutes,  that  the  original 


156  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

plan  of  the  English  school  has  been  departed  from ; 
that  the  subscribers  to  it  have  been  disappointed  and 
deceived,  and  the  faith  of  the  trustees  not  kept  with 
them ;  that  the  public  have  been  frequently  dissatisfied 
with  the  conduct  of  the  trustees,  and  complained  of 
it;  that,  by  the  niggardly  treatment  of  good  masters, 
they  have  been  driven  out  of  the  school,  and  the 
scholars  have  followed,  while  a  great  loss  of  revenue 
has  been  suffered  by  the  Academy;  so  that  the  nu- 
merous schools  now  in  the  city  owe  their  rise  to  our 
mismanagement,  and  that  we  might  as  well  have  had 
the  best  part  of  the  tuition-money  paid  into  our 
treasury,  that  now  goes  into  private  pockets ;  that  there 
has  been  a  constant  disposition  to  depress  the  English 
school  in  favor  of  the  Latin ;  and  that  every  means  to 
procure  a  more  equitable  treatment  has  been  rendered 
ineffectual;  so  that  no  more  hope  remains  while  they 
continue  to  have  any  connexion.  It  is,  therefore,  that, 
wishing  as  much  good  to  the  Latinists  as  their  system 
can  honestly  procure  for  them,  we  now  demand  a 
separation,  and  without  desiring  to  injure  them ;  but 
claiming  an  equitable  partition  of  our  joint  stock,  we 
wish  to  execute  the  plan  they  have  so  long  defeated, 
and  afford  the  public  the  means  of  a  complete  English 
education. 

I  am  the  only  one  of  the  original  trustees  now  living, 
and  I  am  just  stepping  into  the  grave  myself.  I  am 
afraid  that  some  part  of  the  blame  incurred  by  the 
trustees  may  be  laid  on  me,  for  having  too  easily 
submitted  to  the  deviations  from  the  constitution,  and 
not  opposing  them  with  sufficient  zeal  and  earnest- 
ness; though  indeed  my  absence  in  foreign  countries 
at  different  times  for  near  thirty  years,  tended  much  to 
weaken  my  influence.  To  make  what  amends  are  yet 
in  my  power,  I  seize  this  opportunity,  the  last  I  may 


MISCELLANEOUS.  157 

possibly  have,  of  bearing  testimony  against  those  devia- 
tions. I  seem  here  to  be  surrounded  by  the  ghosts 
of  my  dear  departed  friends,  beckoning  and  urging  me 
to  use  the  only  tongue  now  left  us,  in  demanding  that 
justice  to  our  grandchildren,  that  to  our  children  has 
been  denied.  And  I  hope  they  will  not  be  sent  away 
discontented. 

The  origin  of  Latin  and  Greek  schools  among  the 
different  nations  of  Europe  is  known  to  have  been 
this ;  that  until  between  three  and  four  hundred  years 
past  there  were  no  books  in  any  other  language;  all 
the  knowledge  then  contained  in  books,  viz.  the  the- 
ology, the  jurisprudence,  the  physic,  the  art-military, 
the  politics,  the  mathematics  and  mechanics,  the  natural 
and  moral  philosophy,  the  logic  and  rhetoric,  the  chem- 
istry, the  pharmacy,  the  architecture,  and  every  other 
branch  of  science,  being  in  those  languages,  it  was  of 
course  necessary  to  learn  them,  as  the  gates  through 
which  men  must  pass  to  get  at  that  knowledge. 

The  books  then  existing  were  manuscript,  and  these 
consequently  so  dear,  that  only  the  few  wealthy  in- 
clined to  learning  could  afford  to  purchase  them.  The 
common  people  were  not  even  at  the  pains  of  learning 
to  read,  because,  after  taking  that  pains,  they  would 
have  nothing  to  read  that  they  could  understand  with- 
out learning  the  ancients'  languages,  nor  then,  without 
money  to  purchase  the  manuscripts.  And  so  few  were 
the  learned  readers  sixty  years  after  the  invention  of 
printing,  that  it  appears  by  letters  still  extant  between 
the  printers  in  1499,  that  they  could  not  throughout 
Europe  find  purchasers  for  more  than  300  copies  of 
any  ancient  authors.  But,  printing  beginning  now  to 
make  books  cheap,  the  readers  increased  so  much  as 
to  make  it  worth  while  to  write  and  print  books  in  the 
vulgar  tongues.  At  first  these  were  chiefly  books  of 


158  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

devotion  and  little  histories ;  gradually  several  branches 
of  science  began  to  appear  in  the  common  languages, 
and  at  this  day  the  whole  body  of  science,  consisting 
not  only  of  translations  from  all  the  valuable  ancients, 
but  of  all  the  new  modern  discoveries,  is  to  be  met 
with  in  those  languages,  so  that  learning  the  ancient 
for  the  purpose  of  acquiring  knowledge  is  become 
absolutely  unnecessary. 

But  there  is  in  mankind  an  unaccountable  prejudice 
in  favor  of  ancient  customs  and  habitudes,  which  in- 
clines to  a  continuance  of  them  after  the  circumstances, 
which  formerly  made  them  useful,  cease  to  exist.  A 
multitude  of  instances  might  be  given,  but  it  may 
suffice  to  mention  one.  Hats  were  once  thought  an 
useful  part  of  dress;  they  kept  the  head  warm  and 
screened  it  from  the  violent  impression  of  the  sun's 
rays,  and  from  the  rain,  snow,  hail,  &c.  Though,  by 
the  way,  this  was  not  the  more  ancient  opinion  or 
practice ;  for  among  all  the  remains  of  antiquity,  the 
bustos,  statues,  basso-rilievos,  medals,  &c.,  which  are 
infinite,  there  is  no  representation  of  a  human  figure 
with  a  cap  or  hat  on,  nor  any  covering  for  the  head, 
unless  it  be  the  head  of  a  soldier,  who  has  a  helmet ; 
but  that  is  evidently  not  a  part  of  dress  for  health,  but 
as  a  protection  from  the  strokes  of  a  weapon. 

At  what  time  hats  were  first  introduced  we  know 
not,  but  in  the  last  century  they  were  universally  worn 
throughout  Europe.  Gradually,  however,  as  the  wear- 
ing of  wigs,  and  hair  nicely  dressed  prevailed,  the 
putting  on  of  hats  was  disused  by  genteel  people,  lest 
the  curious  arrangements  of  the  curls  and  powdering 
should  be  disordered;  and  umbrellas  began  to  supply 
their  place ;  yet  still  our  considering  the  hat  as  a  part 
of  dress  continues  so  far  to  prevail,  that  a  man  of 
fashion  is  not  thought  dressed  without  having  one,  or 


MISCELLANEOUS.  159 

something  like  one,  about  him,  which  he  carries  under 
his  arm.  So  that  there  are  a  multitude  of  the  politer 
people  in  all  the  courts  and  capital  cities  of  Europe, 
who  have  never,  nor  their  fathers  before  them,  worn 
a  hat  otherwise  than  as  a  chapeau  bras,  though  the 
utility  of  such  a  mode  of  wearing  it  is  by  no  means 
apparent,  and  it  is  attended  not  only  with  some  ex- 
pense, but  with  a  degree  of  constant  trouble. 

The  still  prevailing  custom  of  having  schools  for  teach- 
ing generally  our  children,  in  these  days,  the  Latin 
and  Greek  languages,  I  consider  therefore,  in  no  other 
light  than  as  the  chapeau  bras  of  modern  literature. 

Thus  the  time  spent  in  that  study  might,  it  seems, 
be  much  better  employed  in  the  education  for  such  a 
country  as  ours;  and  this  was  indeed  the  opinion  of 
most  of  the  original  trustees. 


HINTS  FOR  CONSIDERATION  RESPECTING  THE  ORPHAN 
SCHOOL -HOUSE  IN  PHILADELPHIA. 

CHARITABLE  institutions,  however  originally  well  in- 
tended and  well  executed  at  first  for  many  years,  are 
subject  to  be  in  a  course  of  time  corrupted,  misman- 
aged, their  funds  misapplied  or  perverted  to  private 
purposes.  Would  it  not  be  well  to  guard  against  these 
by  prudent  regulations  respecting  the  choice  of  man- 
agers, and  establishing  the  power  of  inspecting  their 
conduct  in  some  permanent  body,  as  the  monthly  or 
quarterly  meeting? 

Would  it  not  be  more  respectable  for  the  institution, 
if  the  appearance  of  making  a  profit  of  the  labor  of 
orphans  were  avoided,  and  the  dependence  for  funds 


160  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

to  be  wholly  on  charitable  contributions?  If  this 
should  be  concluded,  then  it  may  be  proper  to  open 
an  account  with  each  orphan  on  admission;  the  or- 
phans to  have  credit  for  any  subsistence  brought  in 
with  them,  and  for  the  profit  made  of  it  and  of  their 
labor,  and  made  debtors  for  their  maintenance  and 
education.  And  at  their  discharge  on  coming  of  age, 
to  be  paid  the  balance,  if  any,  in  their  favor,  or  remain 
debtors  for  the  balance,  if  against  them,  which  they 
may  be  exhorted  to  pay,  if  ever  able,  but  not  to  be 
compelled.  Such  as  receive  a  balance  may  be  ex- 
horted to  give  back  a  part  in  charity  to  the  institution 
that  has  taken  such  kind  care  of  them,  or  at  least  to 
remember  it  favorably,  if  hereafter  God  should  bless 
them  with  ability,  either  in  benefaction  while  living,  or 
a  legacy  on  decease.  The  orphans,  when  discharged, 
to  receive,  besides  decent  clothing  and  some  money, 
a  certificate  of  their  good  behaviour,  if  such  it  has 
been,  as  a  recommendation ;  and  the  managers  of  the 
institution  should  still  consider  them  as  their  children, 
so  far  as  to  counsel  them  in  their  affairs,  encourage 
and  promote  them  in  their  business,  watch  over  and 
kindly  admonish  them  when  in  danger  of  misconduct. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  161 

PAPER; 

A    POEM. 


This  poem  has  been  printed  in  nearly  all  the  collections  of  Dr. 
Franklin's  writings,  and  for  that  reason  it  is  retained  in  the  present 
edition ;  but  I  have  seen  no  evidence,  which  satisfies  me  that  he  was 
the  author  of  it.  In  the  American  Museum,  where  it  was  printed 
in  1788,  it  was  said  to  be  "  ascribed  to  Dr.  Franklin  "  ;  and,  on  that 
authority,  it  was  taken  first  into  Robinson's  and  then  into  Long- 
man's edition,  and  thence  transferred,  under  Franklin's  name,  to 
various  other  publications  in  England  and  the  United  States.  It  is 
not  contained  in  W.  T.  Franklin's  edition. — EDITOR. 


SOME  wit  of  old,  —  such  wits  of  old  there  were,  — 
Whose  hints  showed  meaning,  whose  allusions  care, 
By  one  brave  stroke  to  mark  all  human  kind, 
Called  clear  blank  paper  every  infant  mind ; 
Where  still,  as  opening  sense  her  dictates  wrote, 
Fair  virtue  put  a  seal,  or  vice  a  blot. 

The  thought  was  happy,  pertinent,  and  true; 
Methinks  a  genius  might  the  plan  pursue. 
I,  (can  you  pardon  my  presumption  ?)  I  — 
No  wit,  no  genius, — yet  for  once  will  try. 

Various  the  papers  various  wants  produce, 
The  wants  of  fashion,  elegance,  and  use.    , 
Men  are  as  various ;  and,  if  right  I  scan, 
Each  sort  of  paper  represents  some  man. 

Pray  note  the  fop,  —  half  powder  and  half  lace, — 
Nice  as  a  band-box  were  his  dwelling-place; 
He's  the  gilt  paper,  which  apart  you  store, 
And  lock  from  vulgar  hands  in  the  'scrutoire. 

VOL.    II.  11 


162  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

Mechanics,  servants,  farmers,  and  so  forth, 
Are  copy-paper  of  inferior  worth ; 
Less  prized,  more  useful,  for  your  desk  decreed. 
Free  to  all  pens,  and  prompt  at  every  need. 

The  wretch,  whom  avarice  bids  to  pinch  and  spare, 
Starve,  cheat,  and  pilfer,  to  enrich  an  heir, 
Is  coarse  brown  paper ;  such  as  pedlers  choose 
To  wrap  up  wares,  which  better  men  will  use. 

Take  next  the  miser's  contrast,  who  destroys 
Health,  fame,  and  fortune,  in  a  round  of  joys. 
Will  any  paper  match  him?     Yes,  throughout, 
He's  a  true  sinking  paper,  past  all  doubt. 

The  retail  politician's  anxious  thought 
Deems  this  side  always  right,  and  that  stark  naught ; 
He  foams  with  censure;  with  applause  he  raves, — 
A  dupe  to  rumors,  and  a  tool  of  knaves; 
He'll  want  no  type  his  weakness  to  proclaim, 
While  such  a  thing  as  foolscap  has  a  name. 

The  hasty  gentleman,  whose  blood  runs  high, 
Who  picks  a  quarrel,  if  you  step  awry, 
Who  can't  a  jest,  or  hint,  or  look  endure, — 
What's  he?    What?   Touch-paper  to  be  sure. 

What  are  our  poets,  take  them  as  they  fall, 
Good,  badj.  rich,  poor,  much  read,  not  read  at  all? 
Them  and  their  works  in  the  same  class  you'll  find; 
They  are  the  mere  waste-paper  of  mankind. 

Observe  the  maiden,  innocently  sweet; 
She 's  fair  white,  paper,  an  unsullied  sheet ; 
On  which  the  happy  man,  whom  fate  ordains, 
May  write  his  name,  and  take  her  for  his  pains. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  163 

One  instance  more,  and  only  one  I  '11  bring ; 
'Tis  the  great  man  who  scorns  a  little  thing, 
Whose    thoughts,    whose    deeds,    whose    maxims    are 

his  own, 

Formed  on  the  feelings  of  his  heart  alone; 
True  genuine  royal  paper  is  his  breast ; 
Of  all  the  kinds  most   precious,   purest,  best 


164  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 


BAGATELLES. 


Concerning  all  the  following  articles,  from  The  Levee  to  An 
Economical  Project  inclusive,  Mr.  William  Temple  Franklin  re- 
marks, that  they  "were  chiefly  written  by  Dr.  Franklin  for  the 
amusement  of  his  intimate  society  in  London  and  Paris ;  and 
were  actually  collected  in  a  small  PORTFOLIO,  endorsed  as  above. 
Several  of  the  pieces  were  either  originally  written  in  French,  or 
afterwards  translated  by  him  into  that  language,  by  way  of  exer- 
cises." The  pieces  which  follow  next,  entitled  The  Craven 
Street  Gazette,  and  A  Letter  concerning  China,  may  perhaps  be 
properly  ranked  in  the  same  class.  —  EDITOR. 


THE  LEVEE. 

IN  the  first  chapter  of  Job  we  have  an  account  of  a 
transaction  said  to  have  arisen  in  the  court,  or  at  the 
levee,  of  the  best  of  all  possible  princes,  or  of  govern- 
ments by  a  single  person,  viz.  that  of  God  himself. 

At  this  levee,  in  which  the  sons  of  God  were  assem- 
bled, Satan  also  appeared. 

It  is  probable  the  writer  of  that  ancient  book  took  his 
idea  of  this  levee  from  those  of  the  eastern  monarchs 
of  the  age  he  lived  in. 

It  is  to  this  day  usual,  at  the  levees  of  princes,  to  have 
persons  assembled  who  are  enemies  to  each  other, 
who  seek  to  obtain  favor  by  whispering  calumny  and 
detraction,  and  thereby  ruining  those  that  distinguish 
themselves  by  their  virtue  and  merit.  And  kings 
frequently  ask  a  familiar  question  or  two,  of  every  one 


MISCELLANEOUS.  165 

in  the  circle,  merely  to  show  their  benignity.  These 
circumstances  are  particularly  exemplified  in  this  re- 
lation. 

If  a  modern  king,  for  instance,  finds  a  person  in  the 
circle,  who  has  not  lately  been  there,  he  naturally  asks 
him  how  he  has  passed  his  time  since  he  last  had  the 
pleasure  of  seeing  him.  The  gentleman  perhaps  replies, 
that  he  has  been  in  the  country  to  view  his  estates,  and 
visit  some  friends.  Thus  Satan,  being  asked  whence 
he  cometh,  answers,  "  From  going  to  and  fro  in  the 
earth,  and  walking  up  and  down  in  it."  And  being 
further  asked,  whether  he  had  considered  the  upright- 
ness and  fidelity  of  the  prince's  servant  Job,  he  imme- 
diately displays  all  the  malignance  of  the  designing  cour- 
tier, by  answering  with  another  question  ;  "  Doth  Job 
serve  God  for  naught  ?  Hast  thou  not  given  him  im- 
mense wealth,  and  protected  him  in  the  possession 
of  it  ?  Deprive  him  of  that,  and  he  will. curse  thee  to 
thy  face."  In  modern  phrase,  "  Take  away  his  places 
and  his  pensions,  and  your  Majesty  will  soon  find  him 
in  the  opposition." 

This  whisper  against  Job  had  its  effect.  He  was 
delivered  into  the  power  of  his  adversary,  who  deprived 
him  of  his  fortune,  destroyed  his  family,  and  completely 
ruined  him. 

The  Book  of  Job  is  called  by  divines  a  sacred  poem, 
and,  with  the  rest  of  the  Holy  Scriptures,  is  understood 
to  be  written  for  our  instruction. 

What  then  is  the  instruction  to  be  gathered  from  this 
supposed  transaction  ? 

Trust  not  a  single  person  with  the  government  of 
your  state.  For  if  the  Deity  himself,  being  the  monarch, 
may  for  a  time  give  way  to  calumny,  and  suffer  it  to 
operate  the  destruction  of  the  best  of  subjects ;  what 
mischief  may  you  not  expect  from  such  power  in  a 


166  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

mere  man,  though  the  best  of  men,  from  whom  the 
truth  is  often  industriously  hidden,  and  to  whom  false- 
hood is  often  presented  in  its  place,  by  artful,  interested, 
and  malicious  courtiers  ? 

And  be  cautious  in  trusting  him  even  with  limited 
powers,  lest  sooner  or  later  he  sap  and  destroy  those 
limits,  and  render  himself  absolute. 

For  by  the  disposal  of  places,  he  attaches  to  himself 
all  the  placeholders,  with  their  numerous  connexions, 
and  also  all  the  expecters  and  hopers  of  places,  which 
will  form  a  strong  party  in  promoting  his  views.  By 
various  political  engagements  for  the  interest  of  neigh- 
bouring states  or  princes,  he  procures  their  aid  in  estab- 
lishing his  own  personal  power.  So  that,  through  the 
hopes  of  emolument  in  one  part  of  his  subjects,  and  the 
fear  of  his  resentment  in  the  other,  all  opposition  falls 
before  him. 


PROPOSED    NEW   VERSION   OF  THE   BIBLE. 
To  THE  PRINTER  OF   *  *    *   *  • 

SIR, 

IT  is  now  more  than  one  hundred  and  seventy  years 
since  the  translation  of  our  common  English  Bible. 
The  language  in  that  time  is  much  changed,  and  the, 
style,  being  obsolete,  and  thence  less  agreeable,  is 
perhaps  one  reason  why  the  reading  of  that  excellent 
book  is  of  late  so  much  neglected.  I  have  therefore 
thought  it  would  be  well  to  procure  a  new  version,  in 
which,  preserving  the  sense,  the  turn  of  phrase  and 
manner  of  expression  should  be  modern.  I  do  not 
pretend  to  have  (he  necessary  abilities  for  such  a  work 
myself;  I  throw  out  the  hint  for  the  consideration  of 


MISCELLANEOUS. 


167 


the  learned ;  and  only  venture  to  send  you  a  {jew 
verses  of  the  first  chapter  of  Job,  which  may  serve 
as  a  sample  of  the  kind  of  version  I  would  recommend. 

A.  B. 


PART     OF     THE     FIRST     CHAPTER     OF     JOB     MODERNIZED. 


OLD  TEXT. 

Verse  6.  Now  there  was  a 
day  when  the  sons  of  God  came 
to  present  themselves  before  the 
Lord,  and  Satan  came  also 
amongst  them. 

7.  And    the    Lord    said    unto 
Satan,     Whence    comest    thou  ? 
Then  Satan  answered  the  Lord, 
and  said,  From  going  to  and  fro 
in  the  earth,  and  from   walking 
up  and  down  in  it. 

8.  And   the   Lord   said    unto 
Satan,  Hast  thou  considered  my 
servant  Job,  that  there  is  none 
like  him  in   the  earth,  a  perfect 
and    an    upright  man,    one   that 
feareth  God,  and  escheweth  evil? 

9.  Then   Satan  answered  the 
Lord,   and  said,  Doth  Job  fear 
God  for  naught? 


10.  Hast  thou   not    made    an 
hedge  about  his  house,  and  about 
all  that  he  hath  on  every  side  ? 
Thou   hast  blessed  the   work   of 
his  hands,  and   his  substance  is 
increased  in  the  land. 

11.  But  put  forth  thine  hand 
now,  and  touch  all  that  he  hath, 
and  he  will   curse   thee   to  thy 
face. 


NEW  VERSION. 
Verse  6.  And  it  being  levee 
day  in  heaven,  all  God's  nobility 
came  to  court,  to  present  them- 
selves before  him ;  and  Satan 
also  appeared  in  the  circle,  as 
one  of  the  ministry. 

7.  And    God    said   to   Satan, 
You   have  been    some    time    ab- 
sent;    where    were   you?     And 
Satan  answered,  I  have  been  at 
my  country-seat,  and  in  different 
places  visiting  my  friends. 

8.  And  God  said,  Well,  what 
think  you  of  Lord  Job  ?  You  see 
he  is  my  best  friend,  a  perfectly 
honest  man,   full  of  respect  for 
me,   and   avoiding   every    thing 
that  might  offend  me. 

9.  And  Satan  answered,  Does 
your  Majesty    imagine    that    his 
good    conduct    is   the  effect  of 
mere   personal   attachment    and 
affection  ? 

10.  Have   you   not   protected 
him,   and    heaped   your    benefits 
upon     him,     till     he     is     grown 
enormously  rich  ? 


11.  Try  him;  —  only  withdraw 
your  favor,  turn  him  out  of  his 
places,  and  withhold  his  pen- 
sions, and  you  will  soon  find  him 
in  the  opposition. 


168  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 


APOLOGUE.* 

LION,  king  of  a  certain  forest,  had  among  his  sub- 
jects a  body  of  faithful  dogs,  in  principle  and  affection 
strongly  attached  to  his  person  and  government,  and 
through  whose  assistance  he  had  extended  his  do- 
minions, and  had  become  the  terror  of  his  enemies. 

Lion,  however,  influenced  by  evil  counsellors,  took 
an  aversion  to  the  dogs,  condemned  them  unheard,  and 
ordered  his  tigers,  leopards,  and  panthers  to  attack 
and  destroy  them. 

The  dogs  petitioned  humbly,  but  their  petitions  were 
rejected  haughtily;  and  they  were  forced  to  defend 
themselves,  which  they  did  with  bravery. 

A  few  among  them,  of  a  mongrel  race,  derived  from 
a  mixture  with  wolves  and  foxes,  corrupted  by  royal 
promises  of  great  rewards,  deserted  the  honest  dogs 
and  joined  their  enemies. 

The  dogs  were  finally  victorious ;  a  treaty  of  peace 
was  made,  in  which  Lion  acknowledged  them  to  be 
free,  and  disclaimed  all  future  authority  over  them. 

The  mongrels,  not  being  permitted  to  return  among 
them,  claimed  of  the  royalists  the  reward  that  had  been 
promised. 

A  council  of  the  beasts  was  held  to  consider  their 
demand. 

The  wolves  and  the  foxes  agreed  unanimously  that 
the  demand  was  just,  that  royal  promises  ought  to  be 
kept,  and  that  every  loyal  subject  should  contribute 
freely  to  enable  his  Majesty  to  fulfil  them. 

*  Written  at  the  period  of,  and  in  allusion  to,  the  claims  of  the  American 
Royalists  on  the  British  Government  —  W.  T.  F. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  169 

The  horse  alone,  with  a  boldness  and  freedom  that 
became  the  nobleness  of  his  nature,  delivered  a  contrary 
opinion. 

"The  King,"  said  he,  "has  been  misled,  by  bad  min- 
isters, to  war  unjustly  upon  his  faithful  subjects.  Royal 
promises,  when  made  to  encourage  us  to  act  for  the 
public  good,  should  indeed  be  honorably  acquitted ;  but 
if  to  encourage  us  to  betray  and  destroy  each  other, 
they  are  wicked  and  void  from  the  beginning.  The 
advisers  of  such  promises,  and  those  who  murdered  in 
consequence  of  them,  instead  of  being  recompensed, 
should  be  severely  punished.  Consider  how  greatly 
our  common  strength  is  already  diminished  by  our  loss 
of  the  dogs.  If  you  enable  the  King  to  reward  those 
fratricides,  you  will  establish  a  precedent  that  may 
justify  a  future  tyrant  in  making  like  promises;  and  every 
example  of  such  an  unnatural  brute  rewarded  will  give 
them  additional  weight.  Horses  and  bulls,  as  well  as 
dogs,  may  thus  be  divided  against  their  own  kind,  and 
civil  wars  produced  at  pleasure,  till  we  are  so  weakened 
that  neither  liberty  nor  safety  is  any  longer  to  be 
found  in  the  forest,  and  nothing  remains  but  abject 
submission  to  the  will  of  a  despot,  who  may  devour  us 
as  he  pleases." 

The  council  had  sense  enough  to  resolve, — That  the 
demand  be  rejected. 


170  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 


TO  MISS  GEORGIAN  A  SHIPLEY,* 

ON    THE    LOSS    OF    HER    AMERICAN    SQUIRREL,    WHO,    ESCAPING    FROM    HIS 
CAGE,    WAS    KILLED    BT    A    SHEPHERD'S    DOG. 

London,  26  September,  1772. 

DEAR  Miss, 

I  LAMENT  with  you  most  sincerely  the  unfortunate 
end  of  poor  MUNGO.  Few  squirrels  were  better  ac- 
complished;  for  he  had  had  a  good  education,  had 
travelled  far,  and  seen  much  of  the  world.  As  he  had 
the  honor  of  being,  for  his  virtues,  your  favorite,  he 
should  not  go,  like  common  skuggs,  without  an  elegy  or 
an  epitaph.  Let  us  give  him  one  in  the  monumental 
style  and  measure,  which,  being  neither  prose  nor  verse, 
is  perhaps  the  properest  for  grief;  since  to  use  common 
language  would  look  as  if  we  were  not  affected,  and 
to  m-'ike  rhymes  would  seem  trifling  in  sorrow. 

EPITAPH. 

Alas  !  poor  MUNGO  ! 
Happy  wert  thou,  hadst  thou  known 

Thy  own  felicity. 
Remote  from  the  fierce  bald  eagle. 

Tyrant  of  thy  native  woods, 

Thou  hadst  nought  to  fear  from  his  piercing  talon?, 
Nor  from  the  murdering  gun 
Of  the  thoughtless  sportsman. 

Safe  in  thy  wired  castle, 

GRIMALKIN  never  could  annoy  thee. 

Daily  wert  thou  fed  with  the  choicest  viands, 

By  the  fair  hand  of  an  indulgent  mistress  ; 

But,  discontented, 

Thou  wouldst  have  mora  freedom. 

Too  soon,  alas!  didst  thou  obtain  it; 

And  wandering, 
Thou  art  fallen  by  the  fangs  of  wanton,  cruel' RANGER! 

*  A  daughter  of  the  Bishop  of  St.  Asaph. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  171 

Learn  hence, 

Ye  who  blindly  seek  more  liberty, 

Whether  subjects,  sons,  squirrels,  or  daughters, 

That  apparent  restraint  may  be  real  protection, 

Yielding  peace  and  plenty 

With  security. 

You  see,  my  dear  Miss,  how  much  more  decent  and 
proper  this  broken  style  is,  than  if  we  were  to  say,  by 
way  of  epitaph,  — 

Here  SKUGG 
Lies  snug, 
As  a  bug 
In  a  rug. 

And  yet,  perhaps,  there  are  people  in  the  world  of  so 
little  feeling  as  to  think  that  this  would  be  a  good- 
enough  epitaph  for  poor  Mungo. 

If  you  wish  it,  I  shall  procure  another  to  succeed  him ; 
but  perhaps  you  will  now  choose  some  other  amuse- 
ment. 

Remember  me  affectionately  to  all  the  good  family, 
and  believe  me  ever  your  affectionate  friend, 

B.  FRANKLIN. 


THE  ART  OF  PROCURING  PLEASANT  DREAMS. 

INSCRIBED    TO    MISS     *    *    *    *,    BEING    WRITTEN    AT    HER    REQUEST. 

As  a  great  part  of  our  life  is  spent  in  sleep,  during 
which  we  have  sometimes  pleasant,  and  sometimes 
painful  dreams,  it  becomes  of  some  consequence  to 
obtain  the  one  kind  and  avoid  the  other ;  for,  whether 
real  or  imaginary,  pain  is  pain  and  pleasure  is  pleasure. 
If  we  can  sleep  without  dreaming,  it  is  well  that  painful 
dreams  are  avoided.  If,  while  we  sleep,  we  can  have 


172  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

any  pleasing  dream,  it  is,  as  the  French  say,  aidant  de 
gagne,  so  much  added  to  the  pleasure  of  life. 

To  this  end  it  is,  in  the  first  place,  necessary  to  be 
careful  in  preserving  health,  by  due  exercise  and  great 
temperance ;  for,  in  sickness,  the  imagination  is  dis- 
turbed, and  disagreeable,  sometimes  terrible,  ideas  are 
apt  to  present  themselves.  Exercise  should  precede 
meals,  not  immediately  follow  them ;  the  first  promotes, 
fhe  latter,  unless  moderate,  obstructs  digestion.  If, 
after  exercise,  we  feed  sparingly,  the  digestion  will  be 
easy  and  good,  the  body  lightsome,  the  temper  cheerful, 
and  all  the  animal  functions  performed  agreeably. 
Sleep,  when  it  follows,  will  be  natural  and  undisturbed ; 
while  indolence,  with  full  feeding,  occasions  nightmares 
and  horrors  inexpressible ;  we  fall  from  precipices,  are 
assaulted  by  wild  beasts,  murderers,  and  demons,  and 
experience  every  variety  of  distress.  Observe,  how- 
ever, that  the  quantities  of  food  and  exercise  are  relative 
things  ;  those  who  move  much  may,  and  indeed  ought 
to  eat  more ;  those  who  use  little  exercise  should  eat 
little.  In  general,  mankind,  since  the  improvement  of 
cookery,  eat  about  twice  as  much  as  nature  requires. 
Suppers  are  not  bad,  if  we  have  not  dined ;  but  restless 
nights  naturally  follow  hearty  suppers  after  full  dinners. 
Indeed,  as  there  is  a  difference  in  constitutions,  some 
rest  well  after  these  meals ;  it  costs  them  only  a  frightful 
dream  and  an  apoplexy,  after  which  they  sleep  till 
doomsday.  Nothing  is  more  common  in  the  news- 
papers, than  instances  of  people  who,  after  eating  a 
hearty  supper,  are  found  dead  abed  in  the  morning. 

Another  means  of  preserving  health,  to  be  attended 
to,  is  the  having  a  constant  supply  of  fresh  air  in  your 
bed-chamber.  It  has  been  a  great  mistake,  the  sleep- 
ing in  rooms  exactly  closed,  and  in  beds  surrounded 
by  curtains.  No  outward  air  that  may  come  in  to  you  is 


MISCELLANEOUS.  .173 

so  unwholesome  as  the  unchanged  air,  often  breathed, 
of  a  close  chamber.  As  boiling  water  does  not  grow 
hotter  by  longer  boiling,  if  the  particles  that  receive 
greater  heat  can  escape ;  so  living  bodies  do  not  putrefy, 
if  the  particles,  so  fast  as  they  become  putrid,  can  be 
thrown  off.  Nature  expels  them  by  the  pores  of  the 
skin  and  the  lungs,  and  in  a  free,  open  air  they  are 
carried  off;  but  in  a  close  room  we  receive  them  again 
and  again,  though  they  become  more  and  more  corrupt. 
A  number  of  persons  crowded  into  a  small  room  thus 
spoil  the  air  in  a  few  minutes,  and  even  render  it  mortal, 
as  in  the  Black  Hole  at  Calcutta.  A  single  person  is 
said  to  spoil  only  a  gallon  of  air  per  minute,  and  there- 
fore requires  a  longer  time  to  spoil  a  chamber-full ;  but 
it  is  done,  however,  in  proportion,  and  many  putrid 
disorders  hence  have  their  origin.  It  is  recorded  of 
Methusalem,  who,  being  the  longest  liver,  may  be  sup- 
posed to  have  best  preserved  his  health,  that  he  slept 
always  in  the  open  air;  for,  when  he  had  lived  five 
hundred  years,  an  angel  said  to  him ;  "  Arise, 
Methusalem,  and  build  thee  an  house,  for  thou  shalt  live 
yet  five  hundred  years  longer. "  But  Methusalem 
answered,  and  said,  "  If  I  am  to  live  but  five  hundred 
years  longer,  it  is  not  worth  while  to  build  me  an  house ; 
I  will  sleep  in  the  air,  as  I  have  been  used  to  do." 
Physicians,  after  having  for  ages  contended  that  the 
sick  should  not  be  indulged  with  fresh  air,  have  at 
length  discovered  that  it  may  do  them  good.  It  is 
therefore  to  be  hoped,  that  they  may  in  time  discover 
likewise,  that  it  is  not  hurtful  to  those  who  are  in  health, 
and  that  we  may  be  then  cured  of  the  aeroplwbia,  that 
at  present  distresses  weak  minds,  and  makes  them 
choose  to  be  stifled  and  poisoned,  rather  than  leave 
open  the  window  of  a  bed-chamber,  or  put  down  the 
glass  ol  a  coach. 


174  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

Confined  air,  when  saturated  with  perspirable  mat- 
ter,* will  not  receive  more;  and  that  matter  must 
remain  in  our  bodies,  and  occasion  diseases ;  but  it 
gives  some  previous  notice  of  its  being  about  to  be 
hurtful,  by  producing  certain  uneasinesses,  slight  indeed 
at  first,  such  as  with  regard  to  the  lungs  is  a  trifling  sen- 
sation, and  to  the  pores  of  the  skin  a  kind  of  restlessness, 
which  is  difficult  to  describe,  and  few  that  feel  it  know 
the  cause  of  it.  But  we  may  recollect,  that  sometimes, 
on  waking  in  the  night,  we  have,  if  warmly  covered, 
found  it  difficult  to  get  asleep  again.  We  turn  often, 
without  finding  repose  in  any  position.  This  fidgeti- 
ness (to  use  a  vulgar  expression  for  want  of  a  better)  is 
occasioned  wholly  by  an  uneasiness  in  the  skin,  owing 
to  the  retention  of  the  perspirable  matter,  the  bed- 
clothes having  received  their  quantity,  and,  being  satu- 
rated, refusing  to  take  any  more.  To  become  sensible 
of  this  by  an  experiment,  let  a  person  keep  his  position 
in  the  bed,  but  throw  off  the  bed-clothes,  and  suffer 
fresh  air  to  approach  the  part  uncovered  of  his  body ; 
he  will  then  feel  that  part  suddenly  refreshed ;  for  the 
air  will  immediately  relieve  the  skin,  by  receiving,  licking 
up,  and  carrying  off,  the  load  of  perspirable  matter  that 
incommoded  it.  For  every  portion  of  cool  air  that 
approaches  the  warm  skin,  in  receiving  its  part  of  that 
vapor,  receives  therewith  a  degree  of  heat  that  rarefies 
and  renders  it  lighter,  when  it  will  be  pushed  away 
with  its  burthen,  by  cooler  and  therefore  heavier  fresh 
air,  which  for  a  moment  supplies  its  place,  and  then, 
being  likewise  changed  and  warmed,  gives  way  to  a 
succeeding  quantity.  This  is  the  order  of  nature,  to 
prevent  animals  being  infected  by  their  own  perspira- 

*  What  physicians  call  the  perspirable  matter  is  that  vapor,  which 
passes  off  from  our  bodies,  from  the  lungs,  and  through  the  pores  of  the  skin. 
The  quantity  of  this  is  said  to  b  :»  five  eighths  of  what  we  eat.  —  AUTHOR; 


MISCELLANEOUS.  175 

tion.  He  will  now  be  sensible  of  the  difference  be- 
tween the  part  exposed  to  the  air,  and  that  which, 
remaining  sunk  in  the  bed,  denies  the  air  access ;  for 
this  part  now  manifests  its  uneasiness  more  distinctly 
by  the  comparison,  and  the  seat  of  the  uneasiness  is 
more  plainly  perceived  than  when  the  whole  surface  of 
the  body  was  affected  by  it. 

Here,  then,  is  one  great  and  general  cause  of  un- 
pleasing  dreams.  For,  when  the  body  is  uneasy,  the 
mind  will  be  disturbed  by  it,  and  disagreeable  ideas  of 
various  kinds  will  in  sleep  be  the  natural  consequences. 
The  remedies,  preventive  and  curative,  follow. 

1.  By   eating   moderately    (as   before    advised    for 
health's  sake),  less  perspirable  matter  is  produced  in  a 
given  time;    hence   the  bed-clothes  receive  it  longer 
before  they  are  saturated,  and  we  may  therefore  sleep 
longer  before  we  are  made  uneasy  by  their  refusing  to 
receive  any  more. 

2.  By  using  thinner  and  more  porous  bed-clothes, 
which  will  suffer  the   perspirable   matter  more   easily 
to  pass  through  them,  we  are  less  incommoded,  such 
being  longer  tolerable. 

3.  When  you  are  awakened  by  this  uneasiness,  and 
find  you  cannot  easily  sleep  again,  get  out  of  bed,  beat 
up  and  turn  your  pillow,  shake  the  bed-clothes  well, 
with  at  least  twenty  shakes,  then  throw  the  bed  open 
and  leave  it  to  cool ;  in  the  mean  while,  continuing  un- 
dressed, walk  about  your  chamber  till  your  skin  has  had 
time  to  discharge  its  load,  which  it  will  do  sooner  as  the 
air  may  be  drier  and  colder.     When  you  begin  to  feel 
the  cold  air  unpleasant,  then  return  to  your  bed,  and 
you  will  soon  fall  asleep,  and  your  sleep  will  be  sweet 
and  pleasant.     All  the  scenes  presented  to  your  fancy 
will   be   too   of  the    pleasing   kind.      I   am    often    as 
agreeably  entertained  with  them,  as  by  the  scenery  of 


176  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

an  opera.  If  you  happen  to  be  too  indolent  to  get  out 
of  bed,  you  may,  instead  of  it,  lift  up  your  bed-clothes 
with  one  arm  and  leg,  so  as  to  draw  in  a  good  deal  of 
fresh  air,  and  by  letting  them  fall  force  it  out  again. 
This,  repeated  twenty  times,  will  so  clear  them  of  the 
perspirable  matter  they  have  imbibed,  as  to  permit  your 
sleeping  well  for  some  time  afterwards.  But  this  latter 
method  is  not  equal  to  the  former. 

Those  who  do  not  love  trouble,  and  can  afford  to 
have  two  beds,  will  find  great  luxury  in  rising,  when 
they  wake  in  a  hot  bed,  and  going  into  the  cool  one. 
Such  shifting  of  beds  would  also  be  of  great  service  to 
persons  ill  of  a  fever,  as  it  refreshes  and  frequently  pro- 
cures sleep.  A  very  large  bed,  that  will  admit  a  remo- 
val so  distant  from  the  first  situation  as  to  be  cool  and 
sweet,  may  in  a  degree  answer  the  same  end. 

One  or  two  observations  more  will  conclude  this  little 
piece.  Care  must  be  taken,  when  you  lie  down,  to  dis- 
pose your  pillow  so  as  to  suit  your  manner  of  placing 
your  head,  and  to  be  perfectly  easy ;  then  place  your 
limbs  so  as  not  to  bear  inconveniently  hard  upon  one 
another,  as,  for  instance,  the  joints  of  your  ankles  ;  for, 
though  a  bad  position  may  at  first  give  but  little  pain 
and  be  hardly  noticed,  yet  a  continuance  will  render  it 
less  tolerable,  and  the  uneasiness  may  come  on  while 
you  are  asleep,  and  disturb  your  imagination.  These 
are  the  rules  of  the  art.  But,  though  they  will  generally 
prove  effectual  in  producing  the  end  intended,  there  is 
a  case  in  which  the  most  punctual  observance  of  them 
will  be  totally  fruitless.  I  need  not  mention  the  case  to 
you,  my  dear  friend,  but  my  account  of  the  art  would 
be  imperfect  without  it.  The  case  is,  when  the  person 
who  desires  to  have  pleasant  dreams  has  not  taken  care 
to  preserve,  what  is  necessary  above  all  things, 

A  GOOD  CONSCIENCE. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  177 

THE    EPHEMERA; 

AN     EMBLEM     OF     HUMAN     LIFE. 
TO    MADAME    BRILLON,    OF    PAS9Y. 

Written  in  1778. 

You  may  remember,  my  dear  friend,  that  when  we 
lately  spent  that  happy  day  in  the  delightful  garden 
and  sweet  society  of  the  Moulin  Joly,  I  stopped  a  little 
in  one  of  our  walks,  and  stayed  some  time  behind  the 
company.  We  had  been  shown  numberless  skeletons 
of  a  kind  of  little  fly,  called  an  ephemera,  whose  suc- 
cessive generations,  we  were  told,  were  bred  and  ex- 
pired within  the  day.  I  happened  to  see  a  living 
company  of  them  on  a  leaf,  who  appeared  to  be 
engaged  in  conversation.  You  know  I  understand  all 
the  inferior  animal  tongues.  My  too  great  application 
to  the  study  of  them  is  the  best  excuse  I  can  give  for 
the  little  progress  I  have  made  in  your  charming  lan- 
guage. I  listened  through  curiosity  to  the  discourse 
of  these  little  creatures ;  but  as  they,  in  their  national 
vivacity,  spoke  three  or  four  together,  I  could  make 
but  little  of  their  conversation.  I  found,  however,  by 
some  broken  expressions  that  I  heard  now  and  then, 
they  were  disputing  warmly  on  the  merit  of  two 
foreign  musicians,  one  a  cousin,  the  other  a  moscheto ; 
in  which  dispute  they  spent  their  time,  seemingly  as 
regardless  of  the  shortness  of  life  as  if  they  had  been 
sure  of  living  a  month.  Happy  people !  thought  I ; 
you  are  certainly  under  a  wise,  just,  and  mild  govern- 
ment, since  you  have  no  public  grievances  to  complain 
of,  nor  any  subject  of  contention  but  the  perfections 
and  imperfections  of  foreign  music.  I  turned  my  head 
from  them  to  an  old  grey-headed  one,  who  was  single 

VOL.    II.  12 


173  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

on  another  leaf,  and  talking  to  himself.  Being  amused 
with  his  soliloquy,  I  put  it  down  in  writing,  in  hopes 
it  will  likewise  amuse  her  to  whom  I  am  so  much 
indebted  for  the  most  pleasing  of  all  amusements,  her 
delicious  company  and  heavenly  harmony. 

"  It  was,"  said  he,  "  the  opinion  of  learned  philos- 
ophers of  our  race,  who  lived  and  flourished  long  before 
my  time,  that  this  vast  world,  the  Moulin  Joly,  could 
not  itself  subsist  more  than  eighteen  hours  ;  and  I  think 
there  was  some  foundation  for  that  opinion,  since,  by 
the  apparent  motion  of  the  great  luminary  that  gives 
life  to  all  nature,  and  which  in  my  time  has  evidently 
declined  considerably  towards  the  ocean  at  the  end 
of  our  earth,  it  must  then  finish  its  course,  be  extin- 
guished in  the  waters  that  surround  us,  and  leave  the 
world  in  cold  and  darkness,  necessarily  producing  uni- 
versal death  and  destruction.  I  have  lived  seven  of 
those  hours,  a  great  age,  being  no  less  than  four  hun- 
dred and  twenty  minutes  of  time.  How  very  few  of 
us  continue  so  long !  I  have  seen  generations  born, 
flourish,  and  expire.  My  present  friends  are  the  chil- 
dren and  grandchildren  of  the  friends  of  my  youth, 
who  are  now,  alas,  no  more !  And  I  must  soon  follow 
them ;  for,  by  the  course  of  nature,  though  still  in 
health,  I  cannot  expect  to  live  above  seven  or  eight 
minutes  longer.  What  now  avails  all  my  toil  and  labor, 
in  amassing  honey-dew  on  this  leaf,  which  I  cannot 
live  to  enjoy !  What  the  political  struggles  I  have 
been  engaged  in,  for  the  good  of  my  compatriot  in- 
habitants of  this  bush,  or  my  philosophical  studies  for 
the  benefit  of  our  race  in  general !  for,  in  politics,  what 
can  laws  do  without  morals?  Our  present  race  ot 
ephemerae  will  in  a  course  of  minutes  become  corrupt, 
like  those  of  other  and  older  bushes,  and  consequently 
as  wretched.  And  in  philosophy  how  small  our  pro- 


MISCELLANEOUS.  179 

gress !  Alas !  art  is  long,  and  life  is  short !  My  friends 
would  comfort  me  with  the  idea  of  a  name,  they  say, 
I  shall  leave  behind  me;  and  they  tell  me  I  have 
lived  long  enough  to  nature  and  to  glory.  But  what 
will  fame  be  to  an  ephemera  who  no  longer  exists  ? 
And  what  will  become  of  all  history  in  the  eighteenth 
hour,  when  the  world  itself,  even  the  whole  Moulin 
Joly,  shall  come  to  its  end,  and  be  buried  in  universal 
ruin?" 

To  me,  after  all  my  eager  pursuits,  no  solid  pleasures 
now  remain,  but  the  reflection  of  a  long  life  spent  in 
meaning  well,  the  sensible  conversation  of  a  few  good 
lady  ephemerae,  and  now  and  then  a  kind  smile  and 
a  tune  from  the  ever  amiable  Brillante* 

B.  FRANKLIN. 


*  The  substance  of  these  reflections  of  the  venerable  EPHEMERA 
appeared  in  The  Pennsylvania  Gazette,  December  4th,  1735,  in  an  essay 
"  ON  HUMAN  VANITY."  Franklin  was  then  the  editor  and  publisher  of 
that  paper.  In  its  original  form  the  article  purports  to  be  a  communi- 
cation from  some  other  person.  In  the  above  letter  to  "  the  ever  amiable 
Brillante"  it  was  doubtless  re-written  from  memory.  It  is  much  im- 
proved in  this  new  dress,  both  as  to  diction  and  sentiment,  as  will  be 
seen  by  comparing  it  with  the  following  extract  from  the  essay  On 
Human  Vanity.  The  aged  philosopher  is  there  represented,  not  as 
uttering  a  soliloquy,  but  as  calling  his  friends  around  him,  and  addressing 
them  for  the  last  time.  —  EDITOR. 


"  Friends  and  fellow  citizens  !  I  perceive  the  longest  life  must  however 
end.  The  period  of  mine  is  now  at  hand.  Neither  do  I  repine  at  my 
fate,  since  my  great  age  is  become  a  burthen  to  me  ;  and  there  is  nothing 
new  to  me  under  the  sun.  The  changes  and  revolutions  I  have  seen  in 
my  country,  the  manifold  private  misfortunes  to  which  we  are  all  liable, 
the  fatal  diseases  incident  to  our  race,  have  abundantly  taught  me  this 
lesson;  that  no  happiness  can  be  secure  or  lasting,  which  is  placed  in 
things  that  are  out  of  our  power.  Great  is  the  uncertainty  of  life  ! 
A  whole  brood  of  our  infants  have  perished  in  a  moment,  by  a  keen 
blast !  Shoals  of  our  straggling  youth  have  been  swept  into  the  ocean 
by  an  unexpected  breeze !  What  wasteful  desolation  have  we  not 
suffered  from  the  deluge  of  a  sudden  shower !  Our  strongest  holds  are 


180  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 


THE   WHISTLE. 

TO    MADAME     BRILLOX 

Passy,  10  November,  1779. 

I  RECEIVED  my  dear  friend's  two  letters,  one  for 
Wednesday  and  one  for  Saturday.  This  is  again 
Wednesday.  I  do  not  deserve  one  for  to-day,  be- 
cause I  have  not  answered  the  former.  But,  indolent 
as  I  am,  and  averse  to  writing,  the  fear  of  having  no 
more  of  your  pleasing  epistles,  if  I  do  not  contribute 
to  the  correspondence,  obliges  me  to  take  up  my  pen ; 
and  as  Mr.  B.  has  kindly  sent  me  word,  that  he  sets 
out  to-morrow  to  see  you,  instead  of  spending  this 
Wednesday  evening  as  I  have  done  its  namesakes, 
in  your  delightful  company,  I  sit  down  to  spend  it  in 

not  proof  against  a  storm  of  hail,  and  even  a  dark  cloud  damps  the  very 
stoutest  heart. 

"  I  have  lived  in  the  first  ages,  and  conversed  with  insects  of  a  larger 
size  and  stronger  make,  and,  I  must  add,  of  greater  virtue  than  any  can 
boast  of  in  the  present  generation.  I  must  conjure  you  to  give  yet  further 
credit  to  my  latest  words  when  I  assure  you,  that  yonder  sun,  which  now 
appears  westward,  beyond  the  water,  and  seems  not  to  be  far  distant  from 
the  earth,  in  my  remembrance  stood  in  the  middle  of  the  sky,  and  shot 
his  beams  directly  down  upon  us.  The  world  was  much  more  enlightened 
in  those  ages,  and  the  air  much  warmer.  Think  it  not  dotage  in  me,  if 
I  affirm,  that  glorious  being  moves.  I  saw  his  first  setting  out  in  the 
east,  and  I  began  my  race  of  life,  near  the  time  when  he  began  his  im- 
mense career.  He  has  for  several  ages  advanced  along  the  sky  with  vast 
heat  and  unparalleled  brightness ;  but  now,  by  his  decimation,  and  a  sensible 
decay,  more  especially  of  late,  in  his  vigor,  I  foresee  that  all  nature  must 
fall  in  a  little  time,  and  that  the  creation  will  lie  buried  in  darkness,  in 
less  than  a  century  of  minutes. 

"  Alas !  my  friends,  how  did  I  once  flatter  myself  with  the  hopes  of 
abiding  here  for  ever ;  how  magnificent  are  the  cells  which  I  hollowed 
out  for  myself;  what  confidence  did  I  repose  in  the  firmness  and  spring 
of  my  joints,  and  in  the  strength  of  my  pinions  !  But  I  have  lived  enough 
to  nature,  and  even  to  glory.  Neither  will  any  of  you,  whom  I  leave 
behind,  have  equal  satisfaction  in  life,  in  the  dark,  declining  age,  which 
I  see  is  already  begun." 


MISCELLANEOUS.  181 

thinking  of  you,  in  writing  to  you,  and  in  reading  over 
and  over  again  your  letters. 

I  am  charmed  with  your  description  of  Paradise,  and 
with  your  plan  of  living  there ;  and  I  approve  much  of 
your  conclusion,  that,  in  the  mean  time,  we  should 
draw  all  the  good  we  can  from  this  world.  In  my 
opinion,  we  might  all  draw  more  good  from  it  than 
we  do,  and  suffer  less  evil,  if  we  would  take  care  not 
to  give  too  much  for  whistles.  For  to  me  it  seems, 
that  most  of  the  unhappy  people  we  meet  with,  are 
become  so  by  neglect  of  that  caution. 

You  ask  what  I  mean?  You  love  stories,  and  will 
excuse  my  telling  one  of  myself. 

When  I  was  a  child  of  seven  years  old,  my  friends, 
on  a  holiday,  filled  my  pocket  with  coppers.  I  went 
directly  to  a  shop  where  they  sold  toys  for  children ; 
and,  being  charmed  with  the  sound  of  a  whistle,  that 
I  met  by  the  way  in  the  hands  of  another  boy,  I 
voluntarily  offered  and  gave  all  my  money  for  one. 
I  then  came  home,  and  went  whistling  all  over  the 
house,  much  pleased  with  my  whistle,  but  disturbing 
all  the  family.  My  brothers,  and  sisters,  and  cousins, 
understanding  the  bargain  I  had  made,  told  me  I  had 
given  four  times  as  much  for  it  as  it  was  worth  ;  put 
me  in  mind  what  good  things  I  might  have  bought 
with  the  rest  of  the  money;  and  laughed  at  me  so 
much  for  my  folly,  that  I  cried  with  vexation ;  and  the 
reflection  gave  me  more  chagrin  than  the  whistle  gave 
me  pleasure. 

This  however  was  afterwards  of  use  to  me,  the  im- 
pression continuing  on  my  mind;  so  that  often,  when 
I  was  tempted  to  buy  some  unnecessary  thing,  I  said 
to  myself,  Don't  give  too  much  for  the  whistle ;  and  I 
saved  my  money. 

As  I  grew  up,  came    into  the  world,  and  observed 


182  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

the  actions  of  men,  I  thought  I  met  with  many,  very 
many,  who  gave  too  much  for  the  whistle. 

When  I  saw  one  too  ambitious  of  court  favor,  sacri- 
ficing his  time  in  attendance  on  levees,  his  repose,  his 
liberty,  his  virtue,  and  perhaps  his  friends,  to  attain  it, 
I  have  said  to  myself,  This  man  gives  too  much  for  his 
whistle. 

When  I  saw  another  fond  of  popularity,  constantly 
employing  himself  in  political  bustles,  neglecting  his 
own  affairs,  and  ruining  them  by  that  neglect,  He  pays, 
indeed,  said  I,  too  much  for  his  whistle. 

If  I  knew  a  miser,  who  gave  up  every  kind  of  com- 
fortable living,  all  the  pleasure  of  doing  good  to  others, 
all  the  esteem  of  his  fellow-citizens,  and  the  joys  of 
benevolent  friendship,  for  the  sake  of  accumulating 
wealth,  Poor  man,  said  I,  you  pay  too  much  for  your 
whistle. 

'  When  I  met  with  a  man  of  pleasure,  sacrificing  every 
laudable  improvement  of  the  mind,  or  of  his  fortune, 
to  mere  corporeal  sensations,  and  ruining  his  health  in 
their  pursuit,  Mistaken  man,  said  I,  you  are  providing 
pain  for  yourself,  instead  of  pleasure ;  you  give  too 
much  for  your  whistle. 

If  I  see  one  fond  of  appearance,  or  fine  clothes,  fine 
houses,  fine  furniture,  fine  equipages,  all  above  his 
fortune,  for  which  he  contracts  debts,  and  ends  his 
career  in  a  prison,  Jllas  !  say  I,  he  has  paid  dear,  very 
dear,  for  his  whistle. 

When  I  see  a  beautiful,  sweet-tempered  girl  married 
to  an  ill-natured  brute  of  a  husband,  JVhat  a  pity,  say  I, 
that  she  should  pay  so  much  for  a  whistle  ! 

In  short,  I  conceive  that  great  part  of  the  miseries 
of  mankind  are  brought  upon  them  by  the  false  esti- 
mates they  have  made  of  the  value  of  things,  and  by 
fheir  giving  oo  much  for  their  whistles. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  183 

Yet  I  ought  to  have  charity  for  these  unhappy 
people,  when  I  consider,  that,  with  all  this  wisdom  of 
which  I  am  boasting,  there  are  certain  things  in  the 
world  so  tempting,  for  example,  the  apples  of  King 
John,  which  happily  are  not  to  be  bought;  for  if  they 
were  put  to  sale  by  auction,  I  might  very  easily  be 
led  to  ruin  myself  in  the  purchase,  and  find  that  I  had 
once  more  given  too  much  for  the  whistle. 

Adieu,  my  dear  friend,  and  believe  me  ever  yours 
very  sincerely  and  with  unalterable  affection, 

B.  FRANKLIN. 


A  PETITION  OF  THE  LEFT  HAND, 

TO    THOSE    WHO    HAVE    THE    SUPERINTENDENCY    OF    EDUCATIOV 

I  ADDRESS  myself  to  all  the  friends  of  youth,  and 
conjure  them  to  direct  their  compassionate  regards  to 
my  unhappy  fate,  in  order  to  remove  the  prejudices 
of  which  I  am  the  victim.  There  are  twin  sisters  of 
us ;  and  the  two  eyes  of  man  do  not  more  resemble, 
nor  are  capable  of  being  upon  better  terms  with  each 
other,  than  my  sister  and  myself,  were  it  not  for  the 
partiality  of  our  parents,  who  make  the  most  injurious 
distinctions  between  us.  From  my  infancy,  I  have 
been  led  to  consider  my  sister  as  a  being  of  a  more 
elevated  rank.  I  was  suffered  to  grow  up  without  the 
least  instruction,  while  nothing  was  spared  in  her  edu- 
cation. She  had  masters  to  teach  her  writing,  drawing, 
music,  and  other  accomplishments ;  but  if  by  chanco  1 
touched  a  pencil,  a  pen,  or  a  needle,  I  was  bitterly 
rebuked ;  and  more  than  once  I  have  been  beaten  for 
being  awkward,  and  wanting  a  graceful  manner.  It  is 
tnie,  my  sister  associated  me  with  her  upon  some  oc- 
casions; but  she  always  made  a  point  of  taking  the 


184  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

lead,  calling  upon  me  only  from  necessity,  jr  to  figure 
by  her  side. 

But  conceive  not,  Sirs,  that  my  complaints  are  insti- 
gated merely  by  vanity.  No;  my  uneasiness  is  oc- 
casioned by  an  object  much  more  serious.  It  is  the 
practice  in  our  family,  that  the  whole  business  of  providing 
for  its  subsistence  falls  upon  my  sister  and  myself.  If 
any  indisposition  should  attack  my  sister,  —  and  I  men- 
tion it  in  confidence  upon  this  occasion,  that  she  is 
subject  to  the  gout,  the  rheumatism,  and  cramp,  with- 
out making  mention  of  other  accidents,  —  what  would 
be  the  fate  of  our  poor  family  ?  Must  not  the  regret 
of  our  parents  be  excessive,  at  having  placed  so  great 
a  difference  between  sisters  who  are  so  perfectly  equal  ? 
Alas !  we  must  perish  from  distress ;  for  it  would  not 
be  in  my  power  even  to  scrawl  a  suppliant  petition 
for  relief  having  been  obliged  to  employ  the  hand  of 
another  in  transcribing  the  request  which  I  have  now 
the  honor  to  prefer  to  you. 

Condescend,  Sirs,  to  make  my  parents  sen«ib]e  of 
the  injustice  of  an  exclusive  tenderness,  and  of  the 
necessity  of  distributing  their  care  and  affection  among 
all  their  children  equally.  I  am,  with  a  profound  re- 
spect, Sirs,  your  obedient  servant, 

THE  LEFT  HAND. 

' 


MISCELLANEOUS.  185 


THE  HANDSOME  AND  DEFORMED  LEG. 

THERE  are  two  sorts  of  people  in  the  world,  who, 
with  equal  degrees  of  health  and  wealth,  and  the 
other  comforts  of  life,  become,  the  one  happy,  and 
the  other  miserable.  This  arises  very  much  from  the 
different  views  in  which  they  consider  things,  persons, 
and  events;  and  the  effect  of  those  different  views 
upon  their  own  minds. 

In  whatever  situation  men  can  be  placed,  they  may 
find  conveniences  and  inconveniences ;  in  whatever 
company,  they  may  find  persons  and  conversation  more 
or  less  pleasing;  at  whatever  table,  they  may  meet 
with  meats  and  drinks  of  better  and  worse  taste,  dishes 
better  and  worse  dressed;  in  whatever  climate,  they 
will  find  good  and  bad  weather ;  under  whatever  gov- 
ernment, they  may  find  good  and  bad  laws,  and  good 
and  bad  administration  of  those  laws;  in  whatever 
poem,  or  work  of  genius,  they  may  see  faults  and 
beauties ;  in  almost  every  face,  and  every  person,  they 
may  discover  fine  features  and  defects,  good  and  bad 
qualities. 

Under  these  circumstances,  the  two  sorts  of  people 
above  mentioned  fix  their  attention;  those  who  are 
disposed  to  be  happy,  on  the  conveniences  of  things, 
the  pleasant  parts  of  conversation,  the  well-dressed 
dishes,  the  goodness  of  the  wines,  the  fine  weather,  &,c., 
and  enjoy  all  with  cheerfulness.  Those  who  are  to 
be  unhappy  think  and  speak  only  of  the  contraries. 
Hence  they  are  continually  discontented  themselves, 
and,  by  their  remarks,  sour  the  pleasures  of  society, 
offend  personally  many  people,  and  make  themselves 
everywhere  disagreeable.  If  this  turn  of  mind  was 
founded  in  nature,  such  unhappy  persons  would  be 


186  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

the  more  to  be  pitied.  But  as  the  disposition  to  criti- 
cize, and  to  be  disgusted,  is  perhaps  taken  up  origin- 
'ally  by  imitation,  and  is  unawares  grown  into  a  habit, 
which,  though  at  present  strong,  may  nevertheless  be 
cured,  when  those  who  have  it  are  convinced  of  its  bad 
effects  on  their  felicity,  I  hope  this  little  admonition  may 
be  of  service  to  them,  and  put  them  on  changing  a 
habit,  which,  though  in  the  exercise  it  is  chiefly  an  act 
of  imagination,  yet  has  serious  consequences  in  life,  as 
it  brings  on  real  griefs  and  misfortunes.  For,  as  many 
are  offended  by,  and  nobody  loves  this  sort  of  people, 
no  one  shows  them  more  than  the  most  common  civility 
and  respect,  and  scarcely  that ;  and  this  frequently  puts 
them  out  of  humor,  and  draws  them  into  disputes  and 
contentions.  If  they  aim  at  obtaining  some  advantage 
in  rank  or  fortune,  nobody  wishes  them  success,  or  will 
stir  a  step,  or  speak  a  word,  to  favor  their  pretensions. 
If  they  incur  public  censure  or  disgrace,  no  one  will 
defend  or  excuse,  and  many  join  to  aggravate  their 
misconduct,  and  render  them  completely  odious.  If 
these  people  will  not  change  this  bad  habit,  and  con- 
descend to  be  pleased  with  what  is  pleasing,  without 
fretting  themselves  and  others  about  the  contraries,  it 
is  good  for  others  to  avoid  an  acquaintance  with  them ; 
which  is  always  disagreeable,  and  sometimes  very  in- 
convenient, especially  when  one  finds  one's  self  entan- 
gled in  their  quarrels. 

An  old  philosophical  friend  of  mine  was  grown,  from 
experience,  very  cautious  in  this  particular,  and  carefully 
avoided  any  intimacy  with  such  people.  He  had,  like 
other  philosophers,  a  thermometer  to  show  him  the  heat 
of  the  weather,  and  a  barometer  to  mark  when  it  was 
likely  to  prove  good  or  bad ;  but,  there  being  no  in- 
strument invented  to  discover,  at  first  sight,  this  un- 
pleasing  disposition  in  a  person,  he  for  that  purpose 


MISCELLANEOUS.  187 

made  use  of  his  legs;  one  of  which  was  remarkably 
handsome,  the  other,  by  some  accident,  crooked  and 
deformed.  If  a  stranger,  at  the  first  interview,  re- 
garded his  ugly  leg  more  than  his  handsome  one,  he 
doubted  him.  If  he  spoke  of  it,  and  took  no  notice 
of  the  handsome  leg,  that  was  sufficient  to  determine 
my  philosopher  to  have  no  further  acquaintance  with 
him.  Every  body  has  not  this  two-legged  instrument ; 
but  every  one,  with  a  little  attention,  may  observe 
signs  of  that  carping,  fault-finding  disposition,  and  take 
the  same  resolution  of  avoiding  the  acquaintance  of 
those  infected  with  it.  I  therefore  advise  those  criti- 
cal, querulous,  discontented,  unhappy  people,  that,  if 
they  wish  to  be  respected  and  beloved  by  others,  and 
happy  in  themselves,  they  should  leave  off  looking  at 
the  ugly  leg. 


MORALS  OF   CHESS. 

PLAYING  at  chess  is  the  most  ancient  and  most 
universal  game  known  among  men;  for  its  original  is 
beyond  the  memory  of  history,  and  it  has,  for  num- 
berless ages,  been  the  amusement  of  all  the  civilized 
nations  of  Asia,  the  Persians,  the  Indians,  and  the 
Chinese.  Europe  has  had  it  above  a  thousand  years ; 
the  Spaniards  have  spread  it  over  their  part  of  Amei  - 
ica;  and  it  has  lately  begun  to  make  its  appearance 
in  the  United  States.  It  is  so  interesting  in  itself,  as 
not  to  need  the  view  of  gain  to  induce  engaging  in  it ; 
and  thence  it  is  seldom  played  for  money.  Those, 
therefore,  who  have  leisure  for  such  diversions,  cannot 
find  one  that  is  more  innocent ;  and  the  following  piece, 
written  with  a  view  to  correct  (among  a  few  young 


188  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

friends)  some  little  improprieties  in  the  practice  of  it, 
shows  at  the  same  time  that  it  may,  in  its  effects  on 
the  mind,  be  not  merely  innocent,  but  advantageous,  to 
the  vanquished  as  well  as  the  victor. 

THE  game  of  chess  is  not  merely  an  idle  amuse- 
ment. Several  very  valuable  qualities  of  the  mind, 
useful  in  the  course  of  human  life,  are  to  be  acquired 
or  strengthened  by  it,  so  as  to  become  habits,  ready 
on  all  occasions.  For  life  is  a  kind  of  chess,  in  which 
we  have  often  points  to  gain,  and  competitors  or  ad- 
versaries to  contend  with,  and  in  which  there  is  a  vast 
variety  of  good  and  evil  events,  that  are  in  some 
degree  the  effects  of  prudence  or  the  want  of  it.  By 
playing  at  chess,  then,  we  may  learn, 

I.  Foresight,  which  looks  a  little  into  futurity,  and 
considers  the  consequences  that  may  attend  an  action ; 
for  it  is  continually  occurring  to  the  player,  "  If  I  move 
this   piece,  what  will   be   the   advantage   of  my  new 
situation  1     What  use  can  my  adversary  make  of  it  to 
annoy  me?     What  other  moves  can  I  make  to  sup- 
port it,  and  to  defend  myself  from  his  attacks  ? " 

II.  Circumspection,  which  surveys  the  whole  chess- 
board, or  scene  of  action ;  the  relations  of  the  several 
pieces  and  situations,  the  dangers  they  are  respectively 
exposed  to,  the  several  possibilities  of  their  aiding  each 
other,  the  probabilities  that  the  adversary  may  make  this 
or  that  move,  and  attack  this  or  the  other  piece,  and 
what  different  means  can  be  used  to  avoid  his  stroke, 
or  turn  its  consequences  against  him. 

III.  Caution,   not    to   make   our  moves   too   hastily. 
This  habit  is    best  acquired  by  observing  strictly  the 
laws  of  the  game ;  such  as,  "  If  you  touch  a  piece, 
you  must  move  it  somewhere;    if  you  set  it  down, 
you  must  let  it  stand;"  and  it  is  therefore  best  that 


MISCELLANEOUS.  189 

these  rules  should  be  observed,  as  the  game  thereby 
becomes  more  the  image  of  human  life,  and  particularly 
of  war;  in  which,  if  you  have  incautiously  put  your- 
self into  a  bad  and  dangerous  position,  you  cannot 
obtain  your  enemy's  leave  to  withdraw  your  troops, 
and  place  them  more  securely,  but  you  must  abide  all 
the  consequences  of  your  rashness. 

And,  lastly,  we  learn  by  chess  the  habit  of  not  being 
discouraged  by  present  appearances  in  the  state  of  our 
affairs,  the  habit  of  hoping  for  a  favorable  change,  and 
that  of  persevering  in  the  search  of  resources.  The 
game  is  so  full  of  events,  there  is  such  a  variety  of 
turns  in  it,  the  fortune  of  it  is  so  subject  to  sudden 
vicissitudes,  and  one  so  frequently,  after  long  contem- 
plation, discovers  the  means  of  extricating  one's  self  from 
a  supposed  insurmountable  difficulty,  that  one  is  en- 
couraged to  continue  the  contest  to  the  last,  in  hopes 
of  victory  by  our.  own  skill,  or  at  least  of  getting  a 
stale  mate,  by  the  negligence  of  our  adversary.  And 
whoever  considers,  what  in  chess  he  often  sees  in- 
stances of,  that  particular  pieces  of  success  are  apt  to 
produce  presumption,  and  its  consequent  inattention, 
by  which  the  losses  may  be  recovered,  will  learn  not 
to  be  too  much  discouraged  by  the  present  success  of 
his  adversary,  nor  to  despair  of  final  good  fortune  upon 
every  little  check  he  receives  in  the  pursuit  of  it. 

That  we  may  therefore  be  induced  more  frequently 
to  choose  this  beneficial  amusement,  in  preference  to 
others  which  are  not  attended  with  the  same  advan- 
tages, every  circumstance  which  may  increase  the 
pleasures  of  it  should  be  regarded;  and  every  action 
or  word  that  is  unfair,  disrespectful,  or  that  in  any 
way  may  give  uneasiness,  should  be  avoided,  as  con- 
trary to  the  immediate  intention  of  both  the  players, 
which  is  to  pass  the  time  agreeably. 


190  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

Therefore,  first,  if  it  is  agreed  to  play  according  to 
the  strict  rules,  then  those  rules  are  to  be  exactly  ob- 
served by  both  parties,  and  should  not  be  insisted  on 
for  one  side,  while  deviated  from  by  the  other,  for  this 
is  not  equitable. 

Secondly,  if  it  is  agreed  not  to  observe  the  rules 
exactly,  but  one  party  demands  indulgences,  he  should 
then  be  as  willing  to  allow  them  to  the  other. 

Thirdly,  no  false  move  should  ever  be  made  to  ex- 
tricate yourself  out  of  difficulty,  or  to  gain  an  advan- 
tage. There  can  be  no  pleasure  in  playing  with  a 
person  once  detected  in  such  unfair  practice. 

Fourthly,  if  your  adversary  is  long  in  playing,  you 
ought  not  to  hurry  him,  or  express  any  uneasiness  at 
his  delay.  You  should  not  sing,  nor  whistle,  nor  look 
at  your  watch,  nor  take  up  a  book  to  read,  nor  make 
a  tapping  with  your  feet  on  the  floor,  or  with  your 
fingers  on  the  table,  nor  do  any  thing  that  may  disturb 
his  attention.  For  all  these  things  displease ;  and  they 
do  not  show  your  skill  in  playing,  but  your  craftiness 
or  your  rudeness. 

Fifthly,  you  ought  not  to  endeavour  to  amuse  and 
deceive  your  adversary,  by  pretending  to  have  made 
bad  moves,  and  saying,  that  you  have  now  lost  the 
game,  in  order  to  make  him  secure  and  careless,  and 
inattentive  to  your  schemes ;  for  this  i«  fraud  and 
deceit,  not  skill  in  the  game. 

Sixthly,  you  must  not,  when  you  have  gained  a 
victory,  use  any  triumphing  or  insulting  expression,  nor 
show  too  much  pleasure;  but  endeavour  to  console 
your  adversary,  and  make  him  less  dissatisfied  with 
himself,  by  every  kind  of  civil  expression  that  may  be 
used  with  truth,  such  as,  "  You  understand  the  game 
better  than  I,  but  you  are  a  little  inattentive ; "  or,  "  You 
play  too  fast ; "  or,  "  You  had  the  best  of  the  game, 


MISCELLANEOUS.  191 

but  something  happened  to  divert  your  thoughts,  and 
that  turned  it  in  my  favor." 

Seventhly,  if  you  are  a  spectator  while  others  play, 
observe  the  most  perfect  silence.  For,  if  you  give 
advice,  you  offend  both  parties,  him  against  whom  you 
give  it,  because  it  may  cause  the  loss  of  his  game, 
him  in  whose  favor  you  give  it,  because,  though  it  be 
good,  and  he  follows  it,  he  loses  the  pleasure  he  might 
have  had,  if  you  had  permitted  him  to  think  until  it 
had  occurred  to  himself.  Even  after  a  move  or  moves, 
you  must  not,  by  replacing  the  pieces,  show  how  they 
might  have  been  placed  better;  for  that  displeases,  and 
may  occasion  disputes  and  doubts  about  their  true 
situation.  All  talking  to  the  players  lessens  or  diverts 
their  attention,  and  is  therefore  unpleasing.  Nor  should 
you  give  the  least  hint  to  either  party,  by  any  kind  o( 
noise  or  motion.  If  you  do,  you  are  unworthy  to  be 
a  spectator.  If  you  have  a  mind  to  exercise  or  show 
your  judgment,  do  it  in  playing  your  own  game,  when 
you  have  an  opportunity,  not  in  criticizing,  or  meddling 
with,  or  counselling  the  play  of  others. 

Lastly,  if  the  game  is  not  to  be  played  rigorously, 
according  to  the  rules  above  mentioned,  then  moderate 
your  desire  of  victory  over  your  adversary,  and  be 
pleased  with  one  over  yourself.  Snatch  not  eagerly  at 
every  advantage  offered  by  his  unskilfulness  or  inatten- 
tion ;  but  point  out  to  him  kindly,  that  by  such  a  move 
he  places  or  leaves  a  piece  in  danger  and  unsupported ; 
that  by  another  he  will  put  his  king  in  a  perilous  situa- 
tion, &c.  By  this  generous  civility  (so  opposite  to  the 
unfairness  above  forbidden)  you  may,  indeed,  happen 
to  lose  the  game  to  your  opponent ;  but  you  will  win 
what  is  better,  his  esteem,  his  respect,  and  his  affection, 
together  with  the  silent  approbation  and  good-will  of 
impartial  spectators. 


192  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 


CONTE. 

IL  y  avoit  un  officier,  homme  de  bien,  appele  Mon- 
tresor, qui  etoit  tresrmalade;  son  cure,  croyant  qu'il 
alloit  mourir,  lui  conseilla  de  faire  sa  paix  avec  Dieu, 
afin  d'etre  re9u  en  Paradis.  "Je  n'ai  pas  beaucoup 
d'inquietude  a  ce  sujet,"  dit  Montresor,  "  car  j'ai  eu, 
la  nuit  derniere,  une  vision  qui  m'a  tout-a-fait  tran- 
quillise."  "  Quelle  vision  avez-vous  cue?"  dit  le  bon 
pretre.  "  J'etois,"  repondit  Montresor,  "  a  la  porte  du 
Paradis,  avec  une  foule  de  gens  qui  vouloient  entrer. 
Et  St.  Pierre  demandoit  a  chacun,  de  quelle  religion 
il  etoit.  L'un  repondoit,  'Je  suis  Catholique  Romain.' 
'He  bien,'  disoit  St.  Pierre,  'entrez,  et  prenez  votre  place 
la  parmi  les  Catholiques.'  Un  autre  dit,  qu'il  etoit  de 
1'eglise  Anglicane.  'He  bien,'  dit  St.  Pierre,  'entrez,  et 
placez-vous  la  parmi  les  Anglicans.'  Un  autre  dit  qu'il 
etoit  Quaker.  'Entrez,'  dit  St.  Pierre,  'et  prenez  place 
parmi  les  Quakers.'  Enfin,  mon  tour  etant  arrive,  il 
me  demanda  de  quelle  religion  j'etois.  'Helas!'  re- 
pondis-je,  '  malheureusement  le  pauvre  Jacques  Mon- 
tresor n'en  a  point.  'C'est  dommage,'  dit  le  Saint,  'je 
ne  sais  ou  vous  placer;  mais  entrez  toujours ;  vous 
vous  mettrez  ou  vous  pourrez.'" 


TRANSLATION. 
A   TALE. 


AN  officer  named  Montresor,  a  worthy  man,  was  very  ill.  The 
curate  of  his  parish,  thinking  him  likely  to  die,  advised  him  to 
make  his  peace  with  God,  that  he  might  be  received  into  P;iradise. 
"  I  have  not  much  uneasiness  on  the  subject,"  said  Montresor, 
"  for  I  had  a  vision  last  night  which  has  perfectly  tranquillized  my 


MISCELLANEOUS.  193 

mind."  "What  vision  have  you  had?"  said  the  good  priest 
"  I  was,"  replied  Montresor,  "  at  the  gate  of  Paradise,  with  a  crowd 
of  people  who  wished  to  enter,  and  St.  Peter  inquired  of  every  one 
what  religion  he  was  of.  One  answered,  '  I  am  a  Roman  Catholic.' 
'Well,'  said  St.  Peter,  'enter,  and  take  your  place  there  among  the 
Catholics.'  Another  said  he  was  of  the  Church  of  England.  'Well,' 
said  the  Saint,  'enter  and  place  yourself  there  among  the  Anglicans.' 
A  third  said  he  was  a  Quaker.  '  Enter,'  said  St.  Peter,  '  and  take 
your  place  among  the  Quakers.'  At  length  my  turn  being  come,  he 
asked  me  of  what  religion  I  was.  '  Alas ! '  said  I,  '  poor  Jacques 
Montresor  has  none.'  '  '  T  is  pity,'  said  the  Saint;  'I  know  not 
where  to  place  you;  but  enter  nevertheless,  and  place  yourself  where, 
you  can.' " 


AN  ARABIAN  TALE. 

ALBUMAZAR,  the  good  magician,  retired  in  his  old 
age  to  the  top  of  the  lofty  mountain  Calabut ;  avoided 
the  society  of  men,  but  was  visited  nightly  by  genii  and 
spirits  of  the  first  rank,  who  loved  him,  and  amused  him 
with  their  instructive  conversation. 

Belubel,  the  strong,  came  one  evening  to  see  Albu- 
mazar;  his  height  was  seven  leagues,  and  his  wings 
when  spread  might  overshadow  a  kingdom.  He  laid 
himself  gently  down  between  the  long  ridges  of  Elluem ; 
the  tops  of  the  trees  in  the  valley  were  his  couch ;  his 
head  rested  on  Calabut  as  on  a  pillow,  and  his  face 
shone  on  the  tent  of  Albumazar. 

The  magician  spoke  to  him  with  raptorous  piety  of 
the  wisdom  and  goodness  of  the  Most  High ;  but  ex- 
pressed his  wonder  at  the  existence  of  evil  in  the  world, 
which  he  said  he  could  not  account  for  by  all  the  efforts 
of  his  reason. 

"Value  not  thyself,  my  friend,"  said  Belubel,  "on  that 
quality  which  thou  callest  reason.  If  thou  knewest  its 
origin  and  its  weakness,  it  would  rather  be  matter  of 
humiliation." 

VOL.  n.  13 


194  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

"  Tell  me  then,"  said  Albumazar,  "  what  I  do  not 
know;  inform  my  ignorance,  and  enlighten  my  under- 
standing." "Contemplate,"  said  Albumazar,  "the  scale 
of  beings,  from  an  elephant  down  to  an  oyster.  Thou 
seest  a  gradual  diminution  of  faculties  and  powers,  so 
small  in  each  step  that  the  difference  is  scarce  percepti- 
ble. There  is  no  gap,  but  the  gradation  is  complete. 
Men  in  general  do  not  know,  but  thou  knowest,  that  in 
ascending  from  an  elephant  to  the  infinitely  Great, 
Good,  and  Wise,  there  is  also  a  long  gradation  of  beings, 
who  possess  powers  and  faculties  of  which  thou  canst 
yet  have  no  conception." 


DIALOGUE  BETWEEN  FRANKLIN  AND  THE  GOUT. 

Midnight,  22  October,  1780. 

FRANKLIN.  Eh!  Oh!  Eh!  What  have  I  done  to 
merit  these  cruel  sufferings? 

GOUT.  Many  things;  you  have  ate  and  drank  too 
freely,  and  too  much  indulged  those  legs  of  yours  in 
their  indolence. 

FRANKLIN.  Who  is  it  that  accuses  me? 

GOUT.  It  is  I,  even  I,  the  Gout. 

FRANKLIN.  What !  my  enemy  in  person  ? 

GOUT.  No,  not  your  enemy. 

FRANKLIN.  I  repeat  it ;  my  enemy ;  for  you  would 
not  only  torment  my  body  to  death,  but  ruin  my  good 
name ;  you  reproach  me  as  a  glutton  and  a  tippler ; 
now  all  the  world,  that  knows  me,  will  allow  that  I  am 
neither  the  one  nor  the  other. 

GOUT.  The  world  may  think  as  it  pleases ;  it  is 
always  very  complaisant  to  itself,  and  sometimes  to  its 
friends ;  but  I  very  well  know  that  the  quantity  of  meat 
and  drink  proper  for  a  man,  who  takes  a  reasonable 


MISCELLANEOUS.  195 

degree  of  exercise,  would  be  too  much  for  another,  who 
never  takes  any. 

FRANKLIN.  I  take  —  Eh  !  Oh !  —  as  much  exercise 
—  Eh !  —  as  I  can,  Madam  Gout.  You  know  my 
sedentary  state,  and  on  that  account,  it  would  seem, 
Madam  Gout,  as  if  you  might  spare  me  a  little,  seeing  it 
is  not  altogether  my  own  fault. 

GOUT.  Not  a  jot ;  your  rhetoric  and  your  politeness 
are  thrown  away ;  your  apology  avails  nothing.  If  your 
situation  in  life  is  a  sedentary  one,  your  amusements, 
your  recreations,  at  least,  should  be  active.  You  ought 
tu  walk  or  ride ;  or,  if  the  weather  prevents  that,  play  at 
billiards.  But  let  us  examine  your  course  of  life. 
While  the  mornings  are  long,  and  you  have  leisure  to 
go  abroad,  what  do  you  do  ?  Why,  instead  of  gaining 
an  appetite  for  breakfast,  by  salutary  exercise,  you 
amuse  yourself  with  books,  pamphlets,  or  newspapers, 
which  commonly  are  not  worth  the  reading.  Yet  you 
eat  an  inordinate  breakfast,  four  dishes  of  tea,  with 
cream,  and  one  or  two  buttered  toasts,  with  slices  of 
hung  beaf,  which  I  fancy  are  not  things  the  most  easily 
digested.  Immediately  afterward  you  sit  down  to  write 
at  your  desk,  or  converse  with  persons  who  apply  to  you 
on  business.  Thus  the  time  passes  till  one,  without 
any  kind  of  bodily  exercise.  But  all  this  I  could  par- 
don, in  regard,  as  you  say,  to  your  sedentary  condition. 
But  what  is  your  practice  after  dinner?  Walking  in 
the  beautiful  gardens  of  those  friends,  with  whom  you 
have  dined,  would  be  the  choice  of  men  of  sense ;  yours 
is  to  be  fixed  down  to  chess,  where  you  are  found 
engaged  for  two  or  three  hours  !  This  is  your  perpetual 
recreation,  which  is  the  least  eligible  of  any  for  a  seden- 
tary man,  because,  instead  of  accelerating  the  motion  of 
the  fluids,  the  rigid  attention  it  requires  helps  to  retard 
the  circulation  and  obstruct  internal  secretions.  Wrap* 


196  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

in  the  speculations  of  this  wretched  game,  you  destroy 
your  constitution.  What  can  be  expected  from  such  a 
course  of  living,  but  a  body  replete  with  stagnant 
humors,  ready  to  fall  a  prey  to  all  kinds  of  dangerous 
maladies,  if  I,  the  Gout,  did  not  occasionally  bring  you 
relief  by  agitating  those  humors,  and  so  purifying  or 
dissipating  them  ?  If  it  was  in  some  nook  or  alley  in 
Paris,  deprived  of  walks,  that  you  played  awhile  at 
chess  after  dinner,  this  might  be  excusable ;  but  the 
same  taste  prevails  with  you  in  Passy,  Auteuil,  Mont- 
martre,  or  Sanoy,  places  where  there  are  the  finest 
gardens  and  walks,  a  pure  air,  beautiful  women,  and 
most  agreeable  and  instructive  conversation ;  all  which 
you  might  enjoy  by  frequenting  the  walks.  But  these 
are  rejected  for  this  abominable  game  of  chess.  Fie, 
then,  Mr.  Franklin !  But  amidst  my  instructions,  I  had 
almost  forgot  to  administer  my  wholesome  corrections ; 
so  take  that  twinge,  —  and  that. 

FRANKLIN.  Oh  !  Eh !  Oh !  Ohhh !  As  much  instruc- 
tion as  you  please,  Madam  Gout,  and  as  many  reproach- 
es ;  but  pray,  Madam,  a  truce  with  your  corrections  ! 

GOUT.  No,  Sir,  no, — I  will  not  abate  a  particle  of 
what  is  so  much  for  your  good,  —  therefore  — 

FRANKLIN.  Oh !  Ehhh !  —  It  is  not  fair  to  say  I 
take  no  exercise,  when  I  do  very  often,  going  out  to 
dine  and  returning  in  my  carriage. 

GOUT.  That,  of  all  imaginable  exercises,  is  the  most 
slight  and  insignificant,  if  you  allude  to  the  motion  of  a 
carriage  suspended  on  springs.  By  observing  the  de- 
gree of  heat  obtained  by  different  kinds  of  motion,  we 
may  form  an  estimate  of  the  quantity  of  exercise  given 
by  each.  Thus,  for  example,  if  you  turn  out  to  walk  in 
winter  with  cold  feet,  in  an  hour's  time  you  will  be  in  a 
glow  all  over ;  ride  on  horseback,  the  same  effect  will 
scarcely  be  perceived  by  four  hours'  round  trotting ;  but 


MISCELLANEOUS.  197 

if  you  loll  in  a  carriage,  such  as  you  have  mentioned, 
you  may  travel  all  day,  and  gladly  enter  the  last  inn  to 
warm  your  feet  by  a  fire.  Flatter  yourself  then  no 
longer,  that  half  an  hour's  airing  in  your  carriage 
deserves  the  name  of  exercise.  Providence  has  ap- 
pointed few  to  roll  in  carriages,  while  he  has  given  to  all 
a  pair  of  legs,  which  are  machines  infinitely  more  com- 
modious and  serviceable.  Be  grateful,  then,  and  make 
a  proper  use  of  yours.  Would  you  know  how  they 
forward  the  circulation  of  your  fluids,  in  the  very  action 
of  transporting  you  from  place  to  place  ;  observe  when 
you  walk,  that  all  your  weight  is  alternately  thrown 
from  one  leg  to  the  other ;  this  occasions  a  great  pres- 
sure on  the  vessels  of  the  foot,  and  repels  their  contents ; 
when  relieved,  by  the  weight  being  thrown  on  the  other 
foot,  the  vessels  of  the  first  are  allowed  to  replenish, 
and,  by  a  return  of  this  weight,  this  repulsion  again 
succeeds ;  thus  accelerating  the  circulation  of  the  blood. 
The  heat  produced  in  any  given  time,  depends  on  the 
degree  of  this  acceleration ;  the  fluids  are  shaken,  the 
humors  attenuated,  the  secretions  facilitated,  and  all 
goes  well ;  the  cheeks  are  ruddy,  and  health  is  estab- 
lished. Behold  your  fair  friend  at  Auteuil ;  *  a  lady  who 
received  from  bounteous  nature  more  really  useful 
science,  than  half  a  dozen  such  pretenders  to  philosophy 
as  you  have  been  able  to  extract  from  all  your  books. 
When  she  honors  you  with  a  visit,  it  is  on  foot.  She 
walks  all  hours  of  the  day,  and  leaves  indolence,  and  its 
concomitant  maladies,  to  be  endured  by  her  horses.  In 
this  see  at  once  the  preservative  of  her  health  and  per- 
sonal charms.  But  when  you  go  to  Auteuil,  you  must 
have  your  carriage,  though  it  is  no  further  from  Passy 
to  Auteuil  than  from  Auteuil  to  Passy. 

*  Madame  Helvetius. 


198  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

FRANK  LIN.     Your  reasonings  grow  very  tiresome. 

GOUT.  I  stand  corrected.  I  will  be  silent  and  con- 
tinue my  office  ;  take  that,  and  that. 

FRANKLIN.     Oh !  Ohh  !  Talk  on,  I  pray  you ! 

GOUT.  No,  no ;  I  have  a  good  number  of  twinges 
for  you  to-night,  and  you  may  be  sure  of  some  more 
to-morrow. 

FRANKLIN.  What,  with  such  a  fever!  I  shall  go 
distracted.  Oh  !  Eh  !  Can  no  one  bear  it  for  me  ? 

GOUT.  Ask  that  of  your  horses ;  they  have  served 
you  faithfully. 

FRANKLIN.  How  can  you  so  cruelly  sport  with  my 
torments  ? 

GOUT.  Sport !  I  am  very  serious.  I  have  here  a 
list  of  offences  against  your  own  health  distinctly  written, 
and  can  justify  every  stroke  inflicted  on  you. 

FRANKLIN.     Read  it  then. 

GOUT.  It  is  too  long  a  detail ;  but  I  will  briefly 
mention  some  particulars. 

FRANKLIN.   .  Proceed.     I  am  all  attention. 

GOUT.  Do  you  remember  how  often  you  have  pro- 
mised yourself,  the  following  morning,  a  walk  in  the 
grove  of  Boulogne,  in  the  garden  de  la  Muette,  or  in 
your  own  garden,  and  have  violated  your  promise, 
alleging,  at  one  time,  it  was  too  cold,  at  another  too 
warm,  too  windy,  too  moist,  or  what  else  you  pleased  ; 
when  in  truth  it  was  too  nothing,  but  your  insuperable 
love  of  ease  1 

FRANKLIN.  That  I  confess  may  have  happened 
occasionally,  probably  ten  times  in  a  year. 

GOUT.  Your  confession  is  very  far  short  of  the  truth  ; 
the  gross  amount  is  one  hundred  and  ninety-nine  times. 

FRANKLIN.     Is  it  possible? 

GOUT.  So  possible,  that  it  is  fact ;  you  may  rely  on 
the  accuracy  of  my  statement.  You  know  Mr.  Brillon's 


MISCELLANEOUS.  199 

gardens,  and  what  fine  walks  they  contain ;  you  know 
the  handsome  flight  of  an  hundred  steps,  which  lead 
from  the  terrace  above  to  the  lawn  below.  You  have 
been  in  the  practice  of  visiting  this  amiable  family  twice 
a  week,  after  dinner,  and  it  is  a  maxim  of  your  own, 
that  "  a  man  may  take  as  much  exercise  in  walking  a 
mile,  up  and  down  stairs,  as  in  ten  on  level  ground." 
What  an  opportunity  was  here  for  you  to  have  had 
exercise  in  both  these  ways !  Did  you  embrace  it,  and 
how  often? 

FRANKLIN.  I  cannot  immediately  answer  that 
question. 

GOUT.     I  will  do  it  for  you ;  not  once. 

FRANKLIN.     Not  once  ? 

GOUT.  Even  so.  During  the  summer  you  went 
there  at  six  o'clock.  You  found  the  charming  lady, 
with  her  lovely  children  and  friends,  eager  to  walk  with 
you,  and  entertain  you  with  their  agreeable  conversa- 
tion ;  and  what  has  been  your  choice  ?  Why  to  sit  on 
the  terrace,  satisfying  yourself  with  the  fine  prospect, 
and  passing  your  eye  over  the  beauties  of  the  garden 
below,  without  taking  one  step  to  descend  and  walk 
about  in  them.  On  the  contrary,  you  call  for  tea  and 
the  chess-board  ;  and  lo !  you  are  occupied  in  your  seat 
till  nine  o'clock,  and  that  besides  two  hours'  play  after 
dinner;  and  then,  instead  of  walking  home,  which 
would  have  bestirred  you  a  little,  you  step  into  your 
carriage.  How  absurd  to  suppose  that  all  this  care- 
lessness can  be  reconcilable  with  health,  without  my 
interposition ! 

FRANKLIN.  I  am  convinced  now  of  the  justness  of 
poor  Richard's  remark,  that  "  Our  debts  and  our  sins 
are  always  greater  than  we  think  for." 

GOUT.  So  it  is.  You  philosophers  are  sages  in 
your  maxims,  and  fools  in  your  conduct. 


200  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

FRANKLIN.  But  do  you  charge  among  my  crimes, 
that  I  return  in  a  carriage  from  Mr.  Brillon's  ? 

GOUT.  Certainly ;  for,  having  been  seated  all  the 
while,  you  cannot  object  the  fatigue  of  the  day,  and 
cannot  want  therefore  the  relief  of  a  carriage. 

FRANKLIN.  What  then  would  you  have  me  do  with 
my  carriage  ? 

GOUT.  Burn  it  if  you  choose ;  you  would  at  least 
get  heat  out  of  it  once  in  this  way ;  or,  if  you  dislike 
that  proposal,  here 's  another  for  you  ;  observe  the  poor 
peasants,  who  work  in  the  vineyards  and  grounds  about 
the  villages  of  Passy,  Auteuil,  Chaillot,  &c. ;  you  may 
find  every  day,  among  these  deserving  creatures,  four  or 
five  old  men  and  women,  bent  and  perhaps  crippled  by 
weight  of  years,  and  too  long  and  too  great  labor. 
After  a  most  fatiguing  day,  these  people  have  to  trudge 
a  mile  or  two  to  their  smoky  huts.  Order  your  coach- 
man to  set  them  down.  This  is  an  act  that  will  be 
good  for  your  soul ;  and,  at  the  same  time,  after  your 
visit  to  the  Brillons,  if  you  return  on  foot,  that  will  be 
good  for  your  body. 

FRANKLIN.     Ah !  how  tiresome  you  are  ! 

GOUT.  Well,  then,  to  my  office ;  it  should  not  be 
forgotten  that  I  am  your  physician.  There. 

FRANKLIN.     Ohhh  !  what  a  devil  of  a  physician  ! 

GOUT.  How  ungrateful  you  are  to  say  so  !  Is  it  not 
I  who,  in  the  character  of  your  physician,  have  saved 
*you  from  the  palsy,  dropsy,  and  apoplexy  ?  one  or  other 
of  which  would  have  done  for  you  long  ago,  but  for  me. 

FRANKLIN.  I  submit,  and  thank  you  for  the  past, 
but  entreat  the  discontinuance  of  your  visits  for  the 
future ;  for,  in  my  mind,  one  had  better  die  than  be 
cured  so  dolefully.  Permit  me  just  to  hint,  that  I  have 
also  not  been  unfriendly  to  you.  I  never  feed  physician 
or  quack  of  any  kind,  to  enter  the  list  against  you  ;  if 


MISCELLANEOUS.  201 

then  you  do  not  leave  me  to  my  repose,  it  may  be  said 
you  are  ungrateful  too. 

GOUT.  I  can  scarcely  acknowledge  that  as  any 
objection.  As  to  quacks,  I  despise  them  ;  they  may  kill 
you  indeed,  but  cannot  injure  me.  And,  as  to  regular 
physicians,  they  are  at  last  convinced,  that  the  gout,  in 
such  a  subject  as  you  are,  is  no  disease,  but  a  remedy ; 
and  wherefore  cure  a  remedy  ?  —  but  to  our  business, 
—  there. 

FRAJVKLIJV.  Oh!  Oh!  —  for  Heaven's  sake  leave 
me;  and  I  promise  faithfully  never  more  to  play  at 
chess,  but  to  take  exercise  daily,  and  live  temperately. 

GOUT.  I  know  you  too  well.  You  promise  fair ; 
but,  after  a  few  months  of  good  health,  you  will  return 
to  your  old  habits ;  your  fine  promises  will  be  forgotten 
like  the  forms  of  the  last  year's  clouds.  Let  us  then 
finish  the  account,  and  I  will  go.  But  I  leave  you  with 
an  assurance  of  visiting  you  again  at  a  proper  time  and 
place ;  for  my  object  is  your  good,  and  you  are  sensible 
now  that  I  am  your  real  friend. 


TO  MADAME  HELVETIUS,  AT  AUTEUIL. 

And  now  I  mention  your  friends,  let  me  tell 

you,  that  I  have  in  my  way  been  trying  to  form  some, 
hypothesis  to  account  for  your  having  so  many,' and  of 
such  various  kinds.  I  see  that  statesmen,  philosophers, 
historians,  poets,  and  men  of  learning  of  all  sorts,  are 
drawn  around  you,  and  seem  as  willing  to  attach  them- 
selves to  you  as  straws  about  a  fine  piece  of  amber.  It 
is  not  that  you  make  pretensions  to  any  of  their 
sciences ;  and,  if  you  did,  similarity  of  studies  does  not 
always  make  people  love  one  another.  It  is  not,  that 


202  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

you  take  pains  to  engage  them ;  artless  simplicity  is  a 
striking  part  of  your  character.  I  would  not  attempt  to 
explain  it  by  the  story  of  the  ancient,  who,  being 
asked  why  philosophers  sought  the  acquaintance  of 
kings,  and  kings  not  that  of  philosophers,  replied,  that 
philosophers  knew  what  they  wanted,  which  was  not 
always  the  case  with  kings.  Yet  thus  far  the  com- 
parison may  go,  that  we  find  in  your  sweet  society,  that 
charming  benevolence,  that  amiable  attention  to  oblige, 
that  disposition  to  please  and  be  pleased,  which  we  do 
not  always  find  in  the  society  of  one  another.  It 
springs  from  you  ;  it  has  its  influence  on  us  all ;  and  in 
your  company  we  are  not  only  pleased  writh  you,  but 
better  pleased  with  one  another,  and  with  ourselves. 
I  am  ever,  with  great  respect  and  affection,  &,c. 

B.  F. 


A  MADAME  HELVETIUS. 

CHAGRINE  de  votre  resolution  barbare,  prononcee  si 
positivement  hier  au  soir,  de  rester  seule  pendant  la  vie 
en  honneur  de  votre  cher  mari,  je  me  retirois  chez  moi, 
tombois  sur  mon  lit,  me  croyois  mort,  et  que  je  me  trou- 
vois  dans  les  Champs-Elisees. 

On  me  demanda  si  j'avois  envie  de  voir  quelques 
personnages  particuliers.  "Menez-moi  chez  les  philo- 
sophes."  "II  y  en  a  deux  qui  demeurent  ici  pres  dans 
ce  jardin  ;  ils  sont  de  tres-bons  voisins,  et  tres-amis  1'un 
de  1'autre."  "Qui  sont-ils?"  "Socrate  et  Helvetius." 
"  Je  les  estime  prodigieusement  tous  les  deux ;  mais 
faites-moi  voir  premierement  Helvetius,  parce  que  j'en- 
tends  un  peu  de  Francois  et  pas  un  mot  de  Grec."  —  II 
m'a  reru  avec  beaucoup  de  courtoisie,  m'ayant  connu, 
disoit-il,  de  reputation  il  y  avoit  quelque  temps.  II  me 


MISCELLANEOUS.  203 

demanda  mille  choses  sur  la  guerre,  et  sur  Petat  present 
de  la  religion,  de  la  liberte,  et  du  gouvernement  en 
France.  "  Vous  ne  demandez  done  rien,"  lui  dis-je, "  de 
votre  chere  amie  Madame  Helvetius ;  et  cependant  elle 
vous  aime  encore  excessivement,  et  il  n'y  a  qu'une 
heure  que  j'etois  chez  elle."  "Ah!"  dit-il,  "vous  me 
faites  ressouvenir  de  mon  ancienne  felicite.  Mais  il  faut 
1'oublier  pour  etre  heureux  ici.  Pendant  plusieurs  des 
premieres  annees,  je  n'ai  pense  qu'a  elle.  Enfin  je  suis 
console.  J'ai  pris  une  autre  femme  ;  la  plus  semblable 
a  elle  que  j'ai  pu  trouver.  Elle  n'est  pas,  il  est  vrai, 
tout-a-fait  si  belle,  mais  elle  a  autant  de  bon  sens,  beau- 
coup  d'esprit,  et  elle  m'aime  infiniment.  Son  etude  con- 
tinuelle  est  de  me  plaire,  et  elle  est  sortie  actuellement 
chercher  le  meilleur  nectar  et  ambroisie  pour  me  regaler 
ce  soir ;  restez  avec  moi  et  vous  la  verrez."  "  J'apper- 
cois,"  dis-je,  "  que  votre  ancienne  amie  est  plus  fidelle 
que  vous ;  car  plusieurs  bons  partis  lui  ont  ete  offerts 
qu'elle  a  refuses  tous.  Je  vous  confesse  que  je  1'ai 
aimee,  moi,  a  la  folie ;  mais  elle  etoit  dure  a  mon  egard,  et 
m'a  re  j  ete  absolument  pour  1'amour  de  vous."  "  Je  vous 
plains,"  dit-il,  "  de  votre  malheur ;  car  vraiment  c'est  une 
bonne  et  belle  femme,  et  bien  aimable.  Mais  PAbbe  de 
la  R  *  *  *  *  et  PAbbe  M  *  *  *  *,  ne  sont-ils  pas  encore 
quelquefois  chez  elle?"  "  Oui  assurement;  car  elle  n'a 
pas  perdu  un  seul  de  vos  amis. "  "  Si  vous  aviez 
gagne  PAbbe  M  *  *  *  *  (avec  du  bon  cafe  a  la  creme) 
a  parler  pour  vous,  vous  auriez  peut-etre  reussi;  car 
il  est  raisonneur  subtil  comme  Duns  Scotus  ou  St. 
Thomas ;  il  met  ses  arguments  en  si  bon  ordre  qu'ds 
deviennent  presque  irresistibles.  Et  si  PAbbe  de  la 
R  *  *  *  *  avoit  ete  gagne  (par  quelque  belle  edition 
d'un  vieux  classique)  a  parler  contre  vous,  cela  auroit 
ete  mieux ;  car  j'ai  toujours  observe,  que  quand  il  lui 
conseilla  quelque  chose,  elle  avoit  un  penchant  tres-forl 


204  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

a  faire  le  revers."  A  ces  mots  entra  la  nouvelle 
Madame  Helvetius  avec  le  nectar;  a  1'instant  je  1'ai 
reconnue  pour  etre  Madame  Franklin,  mon  ancienne 
amie  Americaine.  Je  1'ai  r&clamee,  mais  elle  me  dit 
froidement ;  "  J'ai  ete  votre  bonne  femme  quarante- 
neuf  annees  et  quatre  mois  ; — presqu'un  demi-siecle ; 
soyez  content  de  cela.  J'ai  forme  ici  une  nouvelle  con- 
nexion, qui  durera  a  1'eternite." 

Indigne  de  ce  refus  de  mon  Eurydice,  je  pris  de  suite 
la  resolution  de  quitter  ces  ombres  ingrates,  et  revenir 
en  ce  bon  monde,  revoir  le  soleil  et  vous. — Me  voici! — 
Vengeom-nous  ! 


TRANSLATION. 

TO  MADAME  HELVETIUS. 

MORTIFIED  at  the  barbarous  resolution  pronounced  by  you  so 
positively  yesterday  evening,  that  you  would  remain  single  the  rest 
of  your  life,  as  a  compliment  due  to  the  memory  of  your  husband,  I 
retired  to  my  chamber.  Throwing  myself  upon  my  bed,  I  dreamt 
that  I  was  dead,  and  was  transported  to  the  Elysian  Fields. 

I  was  asked  whether  I  wished  to  see  any  persons  in  particular;  to 
which  I  replied,  that  I  wished  to  see  the  philosophers.  "  There  are 
two  who  live  here  at  hand  in  this  garden ;  they  are  good  neighbours, 
and  very  friendly  towards  one  another."  "Who  are  they?"  "  Socra- 
tes and  Helvetius."  "  I  esteem  them  both  highly  ;  but  let  me  set: 
Helvetius  first,  because  I  understand  a  little  French,  but  not  a  word 
of  Greek."  I  was  conducted  to  him;  he  received  me  with  much 
courtly,  having  known  me,  he  said,  by  character,  some  time  past. 
He  asked  me  a  thousand  questions  relative  to  the  war,  the  present 
state  of  religion,  of  liberty,  of  the  government  in  France.  "  You 
do  not  inquire,  then,"  said  I,  "  after  your  dear  friend,  Madame 
Helvetius;  yet  she  loves  you  exceedingly;  I  was  in  her  company 
not  more  than  an  hour  ago."  "  Ah,"  said  he,  "  you  make  me  recur 
to  my  past  happiness,  which  ought  to  be  forgotten  in  order  to  be 
happy  here.  For  many  years  I  could  think  of  nothing  but  her, 
though  at  length  I  am  consoled.  I  have  taken  another  wife,  the 


MISCELLANEOUS.  205 

most  like  hei  that  I  could  find ;  she  is  not  indeed  altogether  so 
handsome,  but  she  has  a  great  fund  of  wit  and  good  sense ;  and  her 
whole  study  is  to  please  me.  She  is  at  this  moment  gone  to  fetch 
the  best  nectar  and  ambrosia  to  regale  me ;  stay  here  awhile  and 
you  will  see  her."  "I  perceive,"  said  I,  "that  your  former  friend 
is  more  faithful  to  you  than  you  are  to  her;  she  has  had  several 
good  offers,  but  has  refused  them  all.  T  will  confess  to  you  that  I 
loved  her  extremely ;  but  she  was  cruel  to  me,  and  rejected  me 
peremptorily  for  your  sake."  "  I  pity  you  sincerely,"  said  he,  "  for 
she  is  an  excellent  woman,  handsome  and  amiable.  But  do  not 
the  Abbe  de  la  R  *  *  *  *  and  the  Abbe  M  *****  visit  her?" 
"Certainly  they  do;  not  one  of  your  friends  has  dropped  her 
acquaintance."  "  If  you  had  gained  the  Abbe  M  *  *  *  *  with  a 
bribe  of  good  coffee  and  cream,  perhaps  you  would  have  succeeded ; 
for  he  is  as  deep  a  reasoner  as  Duns  Scotus  or  St.  Thomas ;  he 
arranges  and  methodizes  his  arguments  in  such  a  manner  that  they 
are  almost  irresistible.  Or,  if  by  a  fine  edition  of  some  old  classic, 
you  had  gained  the  Abbe  de  la  R  *  *  *  *  to  speak  against  you,  that 
would  have  been  still  better ;  as  I  always  oberved,  that  when  he 
recommended  any  thing  to  her,  she  had  a  great'  inclination  to  do 
directly  the  contrary."  As  he  finished  these  words  the  new  Madame 
Helvetius  entered  with  the  nectar,  and  I  recognised  her  imme- 
diately as  my  former  American  friend,  Mrs.  Franklin  !  I  reclaimed 
her,  but  she  answered  me  coldly ;  "  T  was  a  good  wife  to  you  for 
forty-nine  years  and  four  months,  nearly  half  a  century  ;  let  that 
content  you.  I  have  formed  a  new  connexion  here,  which  will  last 
to  eternity." 

Indignant  at  this  refusal  of  my  Eurydice,  I  immediately  resolved 
to  quit  those  ungrateful  shades,  and  return  to  this  good  world  again 
to  behold  the  sun  and  you  !  Here  I  am ;  let  us  avenge  ourselves ! 


206  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

TRES-HUMBLE   REQUETE   PRESENTEE   A   MADAME 
HELVETIUS   PAR   SES   CHATS. 

[Probably  written  by  the  Abbe  Morellet.] 

TRES-ILLUSTRE  ET  TRES-BONNE  DAME, 

line  nouvelle  affreuse  vient  troubler  le  bonheur  dont 
nous  jouissions  dans  votre  basse-cour  et  dans  votre 
bucher.  Nous  apprenons  que  sur  un  expose  calom- 
nieux,  nos  ennemis,  vos  Abbes,*  vous  ont  fait  porter 
une  sentence  de  proscription  contre  nous;  qu'a  1'aide 
d'une  invention  diabolique,  nous  devons  etre  pris,  mis 
dans  un  tonneau,  roules  jusqu'a  la  riviere  et  abandonnes 
a  la  merci  des  flots ;  et  au  moment  ou  nous  vous  griffon- 
nons  notre  tres-humble  requete,  nous  entendons  les 
coups  de  la  hache  et  du  marteau  de  votre  cocher,  qui 
faconne  1'instrument  du  supplice  qu'on  nous  prepare. 

Mais,  tres-illustre  dame,  serons-nous  done  condamnes 
sans  etre  entendus ;  et  serons-nous  les  seules  de  taut  de 
creatures  vivantes  a  vos  depens  qui  ne  trouverons  pas 
votre  ame  juste  et  sensible '?  Nous  voyons  tous  les 
jours  vos  bienfaisantes  mains  nourrir  deux  ou  trois  cents 
poulets,  autant  de  serins,  des  pigeons  sans  nombre,  tous 
les  moineaux  de  la  banlieue,  tous  les  merles  du  Bois  de 
Boulogne,  et  jusqu'a  des  chiens ;  et  nous  seuls  cesse- 
rions  d'eprouver  les  effets  de  votre  bienfaisance,  et,  ce 
qui  est  affreux  a  penser,  nous  deviendrions  les  objets 
d'une  cruaute  bien  etrangere  a  votre  ame  et  que  vous 
n'aurez  jamais  eue  que  pour  nous  ?  Non,  la  bonte  natu- 
relle  de  votre  coeur  vous  ramenera  a  des  sentimens  plus 
dignes  de  votre  chattite. 

Eh,  quels  crimes  avons-nous  commis?  On  nous 
accuse,  (le  dirons-nous  jusqu'ou  s'emporte  la  calomnie  ?) 
on  nous  accuse  de  manger  vos  poulets  lorsqu'ils  sont 
encore  jeunes,  de  detourner  de  terns  en  terns  quelques 

*  Morellet  et  La  Roche. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  207 

pigeons,  de  guetter  sans  cesse  vos  serins,  et  d'en  accro- 
cher  quelques-uns  par  les  mailles  du  treillage  de  votre 
voliere,  et  de  laisser  les  souris  infester  votre  maison. 

Mais  suffit-il  d'imputer  des  crimes  pour  faire  des 
coupables  ?  Nous  pouvons  repousser  ces  horribles  ac- 
cusations. Qu'il  nous  soit  d'abord  permis  d'observer 
qu'on  ne  les  appuie  d'aucunes  preuves.  Quand  on 
produiroit  les  pieds  de  quelques  pigeons  ou  les  plumes 
d'un  poulet,  sont-ce  1&  des  temoins  qui  puissent  etre 
admis  dans  quelque  tribunal  que  ce  soit  1  Mais  les 
grands  crimes  sont  les  suites  de  la  misere  et  du  besoin, 
et  nous  recevons  tous  les  jours  de  vous,  a  dix-huit  chats 
que  nous  sommes,  une  subsistance  abondante.  II  ne 
nous  manque  rien.  Egratignerions-nous  la  main  qui 
nous  nourrit?  Plus  d'une  fois,  sous  vos  yeux,  vos 
poulets  sont  venus  manger  avec  nous  au  meme  plat, 
sans  que  vous  ayez  apper9u  de  notre  part  le  plus  leger 
mouvement  d'impatience ;  et  si  1'on  vous  dit  que  nous 
ne  mangeons  jamais  de  poulets  lorsqu'on  nous  observe, 
que  c'est  la  nuit  que  nous  commettons  les  meurtres  dont 
on  nous  accuse,  nous  repondrons  que  ce  sont  nos  calom- 
niateurs  qui  se  cachent  dans  les  tenebres  pour  tramer 
contre  nous  leurs  laches  complots,  puisqu'ils  sont  re- 
duits  a  nous  imputer  des  crimes  nocturnes,  que  dement 
sans  cesse  notre  conduite  de  tout  le  jour. 

Mais,  disent  nos  ennemis,  la  basse-cour  de  Madame 
lui  coute  25  louis  par  an,  il  s'y  eleve  environ  deux  ou 
trois  cents  poulets,  elle  n'en  mange  pas  cinquante,  qui 
lui  reviennent,  par  sa  grande  economic,  a  12  livres  la 
piece ;  et  que  devient  le  reste  ? 

Nous  oserons  le  demander,  d'abord  nous  a-t-on  donne 
les  poulets  en  compte  et  en  garde,  et  pouvons-nous  en 
repondre?  Au  milieu  de  ce  grand  nombre  d'etres 
destructeurs,  les  hommes,  tous  convaincus  que  les 
poulets  ne  sont  au  monde  que  pour  etre  manges  par 


208  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

eux,  ce  n'est  pas  sur  nous  que  doivent  porter  les 
premiers  soup^ons.  II  se  fait  tous  les  Dimanches  a  la 
porte  du  Bois  de  Boulogne  et  dans  les  cabarets  d'Au- 
teuil  cent  fricassees ;  n'est-il  pas  plus  que  vraisemblable 
qu'il  s'y  glisse  quelques-uns  de  vos  poulets  1  et  certes 
ce  n'est  pas  de  nous  que  les  aubergistes  les  tiennent. 
Apres  tout,  Madame,  et  sans  pretendre  faire  1'apologie 
des  voleurs  de  poulets,  qu'il  nous  soit  permis  d'observer 
que  quelles  que  soient  les  causes  qui  en  diminuent  un 
peu  le  nombre,  elles  sont  dans  1'ordre  de  la  nature  et 
salutaires  pour  vous-meme  dans  leurs  effets,  puisqu'elles 
contiennent  dans  des  limites  convenables  la  multiplica- 
tion de  cette  espece,  qui  convertiroit  bientot  votre 
maison  toute  entiere  en  un  poulailler,  et  qui  vous 
reduiroit  a  n'avoir  plus  de  chemises  pour  avoir  plus  de 
poulets. 

Quant  aux  pigeons,  on  a  vu  disparoitre,  il  est  vrai, 
plusieurs  des  enfans  de  Coco  ;  *  mais  il  ne  faut  pas  que 
votre  tendresse  pour  lui,  qui  va  jusqu'a  lui  laisser  casser 
vos  porcelaines  pourvu  qu'il  daigne  manger  dans  votre 
main,  vous  rende  injuste  envers  nous.  Ou  est  la 
preuve  que  nous  ayons  mange  ses  enfans  ?  Lui  et  ses 
pareils  s'approchent-ils  jamais  de  nous  ?  Toujours  sur 
les  toits,  ou  se  tenant  a  distance,  ne  nous  montrent-ils 
pas  une  defiance  dont  nous  aurions  le  droit  d'etre 
blesses  ?  Qu'on  visite  tout  le  bucher  au  printems  pro- 
chain  ;  et  si  1'on  decouvre  quelque  trace  du  meurtre, 
nous  serons  les  premiers  &  rechercher  et  a  livrer  le 
coupable;  mais  quoi,  les  pigeons  ne  sont  pas,  comme 
nous  autres  pauvres  chats,  attaches  au  sol  qui  les  a  vu 
naitre ;  ils  peu  vent  voler  par  les  airs  a  une  autre 
patrie ;  ceux  qui  vous  manquent,  jaloux  sans  doute  de 
la  preference  que  vous  montrez  £  quelques-uns  d'entre 
eux,  ont  ete  chercher  1'egalite  dans  des  colombiers 

*  Pigeon  apprivoise  et  favori  de  Madame  Helvetius. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  209 

republicans,  plutot  que  de  trainer  1'aile  sous  la  domina- 
tion insolente  de  vos  pigeons  favoris. 

L'accusation  qu'on  intente  contre  nous  d'avoir  attrape 
quelques-uns  de  vos  serins,  est  une  imposture  grossiere. 
Les  mailles  de  leur  voliere  sont  si  petites,  que  lorsqu'en 
jouant  nous  essayons  d'y  passer  nos  pattes,  nous  avons 
heaucoup  de  peine  a  les  en  retirer.  Nous  nous  amu- 
sons,  il  est  vrai,  quelquefois  a  voir  de  pres  leurs  jeux 
innocens ;  mais  nous  n'avons  pas  a  nous  reprocher  le 
sang  d'aucun  de  ces  jolis  oiseaux. 

Nous  ne  nous  defendrons  pas  de  meme  d'avoir 
mange  autant  de  moineaux,  de  merles  et  de  grives,  que 
nous  en  avons  pu  attraper ;  mais  ici  nous  avons  pour 
nous  vos  Abbes  memes,  nos  plus  cruels  ennemis ;  ils  se 
plaignent  sans  cesse  du  degat  de  cerises  que  les  moi- 
neaux font,  disent-ils,  a  leur  prejudice.  Le  Sieur  Abbe 
M  *  *  *  *  montre  une  haine  ardente  contre  les  grives  et 
(es  merles,  qui  depouillent  vos  treilles  de  raisins,  ainsi 
que  lui.  Mais  il  nous  semble,  tres-illustre  Dame,  qu'il 
vaudroit  autant  que  vos  raisins  fussent  manges  par  des 
merles  que  par  des  Abbes,  et  qu'en  vain  ferons-nous  la 
chasse  a  ces  pillards  ailes,  si  vous  tolerez  chez  vous 
d'autres  voleurs  a  deux  pieds  sans  plumes  qui  y  font 
encore  de  plus  grands  degats. 

Nous  savons  qu'on  nous  accuse  aussi  de  manger  les 
rossignols  qui  ne  volent  rien,  et  qui  chantent,  dit-on,  fort 
agreablemerit.  II  se  peut  en  effet  que  nous  en  ayons 
croque  quelques-uns,  dans  1'ignorance  ou  nous  etions 
de  votre  affection  particuliere  pour  eux ;  mais  leur  plu- 
mage terne  et  gris  ressejnble  beaucoup  a  celui  des 
moineaux,  et  nous  ne  nous  connoissons  pas  assez  en 
nmsique  pour  distinguer  le  ramage  des  uns  et  des 
autres  Un  chat  de  M.  Piccini  *  nous  a  dit,  que  quand 

*  Corapositeur  Italien. 

VOL.  ii.  14 


210  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

on  ne  savoit  que  miauler  on  ne  pouvoit  pas  juger  de  1'art 
du  chant,  et  cette  inaxime  suffit  a  notre  justification. 
Cependant  nous  mettrons  desormais  le  plus  grand  soin 
a  distinguer  les  Gluckistes*  qui  sont,  nous  a-t-il  dit,  les 
moineaux,  des  Piccinistes,  qui  sont  les  rossignols.  Nous 
vous  supplions  seulement  de  nous  pardonner  les  erreurs 
ou  nous  pourrions  tomber  en  denichant  quelque  couvee 
de  Piccinistes,  qu'il  est  impossible  de  reconnoitre  lors- 
qu'ils  sont  sans  plumes,  et  qu'ils  n'ont  pas  encore 
appris  a  chanter. 

La  derniere  imputation  que  nous  repousserons,  tres- 
illustre  Dame,  est  celle  qu'on  tire  centre  nous  du  grand 
nombre  de  souris  dont  votre  maison  est  infestee.  Elles 
font,  dit-on,  un  degat  horrible  dans  votre  sucre  et  vos 
confitures  ;  elles  rongent  les  livres  de  vos  savans,  et 
jusqu'aux  mules  de  Mademoiselle  Luillierf  dans  le  terns 
meme  qu'elle  marche.  On  pretend  que  les  chats 
n'etant  crees  et  mis  au  monde  par  la  Providence,  (qui 
veille  avec  une  egale  bonte  sur  les  chats  et  les  souris,) 
que  pour  manger  les  souris,  quand  Us  ne  remplissent 
pas  leur  destination,  on  n'a  rien  de  mieux  a  faire  que  de 
les  noyer. 

Certainement,  tres-illustre  Dame,  il  vous  est  aise  de 
reconnoitre  le  langage  de  1'interet  personnel  dans  la 
bouche  de  nos  accusateurs.  Le  Sieur  Cabanis,  J  qui 
fait  chez  vous  une  consommation  enorme  de  confitures 
et  qui  va  sans  cesse  derobant  des  morceaux  de  sucre 
lorsqu'il  croit  n'etre  pas  vu,  a  ses  raisons  pour  vous 
faire  regarder  comme  un  crime  capital  la  gourman- 
dise  de  quelques  souris  qui  ecornent  un  pain,  ou  enta- 
ment  avant  lui  un  pot  de  gelee  de  groseilles ;  mais  il 
montre  une  ame  encore  plus  atroce  qu'interessee  lors- 

*  Gluck,  compositeur  Jlllemand. 

f  Vieille  femme-de-chambre  dc  Madame  H. 

\  Ami  de  Madame  H.  demeurant  chez  elle. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  211 

qu'il  nous  juge  dignes  de  mort  parce  que  nous  n'empe- 
chons  pas  ces  petites  betes  de  faire  la  millieme  partie 
d'un  degat  que  lui-meme,  tout  grand  qu'il  est,  fait  sans 
discretion  comme  sans  remords ;  et  pousseroit-il  plus 
loin  sa  barbarie  envers  nous  si,  comme  lui  et  les  souris, 
nous  etions  nous-memes  des  animaux  smro-phages  et 
confituri-vores  1  N'est-il  pas  manifeste  que  sa  gour- 
mandise  seule  lui  inspire  des  sentimens  si  cruels,  et 
pourriez-vous  leur  donner  entree  dans  votre  cceur? 

Pour  les  livres  du  Sieur  Abbe  de  la  Roche  et  de  cet 
autre  savant,*  dont  nous  avons  lu  tout-a-1'heure  le  dis- 
cours  a  1' Academic  enveloppant  un  mou  de  veau  que 
vous  avez  eu  la  bonte  de  nous  faire  donner ;  quel  est 
done  le  grand  mal  que  les  souris  mangent  un  peu  de 
leurs  bouquins?  A  quoi  leurs  servent  toutes  leurs 
lectures?  Depuis  qu'ils  vivent  aupres  de  vous,  ne 
doivent-ils  pas  s'etre  pleinement  convaincus  de  1'inutilite 
du  savoir  ?  Us  vous  voient  bonne,  sans  le  secours  d'au- 
cun  Trait'^,  de  Morale;  aimable  sans  avoir  lu  VArt  de 
Plaire  de  notre  historiographe  Moncrief,  et  heureuse 
sans  connoitre  le  Traite,  du  Bonheur,  du  malheureux 
Maupertuis  ;  en  meme  terns  qu'ils  sont  les  temoins  jour- 
naliers  de  votre  profonde  ignorance.  Us  savent  beau- 
coup  de  choses,  mais  ils  ignorent  I'art  que  vous  savez 
si  bien  de  vous  passer  de  rien  savoir.  Votre  orthographe 
n'est  pas  beaucoup  meilleure  que  la  notre,  et  votre 
ecriture  ne  vaut  pas  mieux  que  notre  griffonage.  Vous 
ecrivez  boneure  pour  bonheur ;  mais  vous  possedez  la 
chose  sans  savoir  comment  son  nom  s'ecrit;  enfin,  ce 
bonheur  meme  qu'ils  ne  savent  pas  puiser  dans  leurs 
livres,  du  haut  de  votre  ignorance  vous  le  repandez  sur 
eux.  Les  souris  ne  leur  font  done  pas  un  si  grand  tort. 

Quant  aux  mules  de  Mademoiselle  Luillier,  pour  peu 
qu'elle  voulut  aller  moins  lentement,  les  souris  ne  lui 

*  L'Abb6  Morellet. 


212  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

mangeroient  pas  les  pieds  ;  et  il  est  etrange  qu'on  nous 
condamne  a  la  mort  parce  que  votre  femme-de-chambre 
n'a  gueres  plus  de  mouvement  qu'un  lima^on. 

Ces  raisons  si  fortes  ne  sont  pas  encore  les  seules  qui 
peuvent  nous  excuser  envers  vous  des  degats  que  les 
souris  font  dans  votre  maison. 

Ah !  tres-illustre  Dame,  en  quelle  conscience  peut-on 
se  plaindre  de  ce  que  nous  ne  prenons  pas  vos  souris, 
lorsque  vous  avez  sans  cesse  aupres  de  vous  deux 
monstres  alteres  de  notre  sang,  qui  ne  nous  permettent 
pas  d'approcher  de  votre  chere  personne,  comme  la 
reconnoissance  et  le  devoir  nous  y  porteroient?  deux 
chiens,  c'est  tout  dire ;  animaux  nourris  dans  la  haine 
des  chats,  dont  les  aboiemens  continuels  nous  remplis- 
sent  de  terreur.  Comment  ose-t-on  nous  reprocher  de 
nous  tenir  eloignes  des  lieux  ou  regnent  ces  animaux 
feroces,  en  qui  la  nature  a  mis  1'aversion  pour  notre  race 
et  la  force  pour  la  detruire  ?  Encore,  si  nous  n'avions 
affaire  qu'a  des  chiens  Francois,  leur  haine  ne  seroit 
pas  si  active,  leur  ferocite  seroit  moindre ;  mais  vous 
etes  toujours  accompagnee  d'un  bull-dog  que  vous  avez 
fait  venir  d'Angleterre  (au  me'pris  des  sages  disposi- 
tions de  M.  le  Controleur- General),  et  qui  nous  hait 
doublement,  comme  chats  Francois.  Nous  voyons,  sous 
nos  yeux,  tous  les  jours,  les  cruels  effets  de  sa  rage, 
dans  la  queue  depouillee  de  notre  frere  Le  JYoir.  No- 
tre zele  pour  votre  service,  et  meme  le  gout  que  nous 
avons  pour  les  souris  nous  conduiroit  a  la  chasse  dans 
vos  appartemens,  si  nous  n'en  etions  pas  bannis  par  ces 
ennemis  redoutables  que  vous  en  avez  rendus  les  mai- 
tres.  Qu'on  cesse  done  de  nous  reprocher  les  desordres 
que  causent  chez  vous  les  souris,  puisqu'on  nous  met 
dans  1'impossibilite  de  les  reprimer. 

Helas !  ils  ne  sont  plus  ces  terns  heureux,  ou  rillustre 
chat  Pompon  regnoit  dans  ces  memes  lieux,  dormoit  sur 


MISCELLANEOUS.  213 

vos  genoux,  et  reposoit  sur  votre  couche ;  ou  cette 
Zemire*  aujourd'hui  si  ardente  a  nous  chasser  de  chez 
vous,  et  qui  entre  en  fureur  au  seul  mot  de  chat,  faisoit 
humblement  sa  cour  au  favori  dont  elle  occupe  aujour- 
d'hui la  place.  Alors  nous  marchions  la  queue  levee 
dans  toute  la  maison.  Feu  M.  Pompon  daignoit  quel- ' 
quefois  partager  avec  le  dernier  d'entre  nous  les  lapins 
que  Sa  Majeste  lui  envoyoit  de  sa  chasse,  et  a  1'ombre 
du  credit  de  cet  illustre  favori  nous  jouissions  de  quel- 
que  paix  et  de  quelque  bonheur.  Cet  heureux  terns 
n'est  plus  !  Nous  vivons  sous  un  regne  de  chien,  et 
nous  regrettons  sans  cesse  le  chat,  sous  1'empire  duquel 
nous  avons  coule  de  si  beaux  jours !  Aussi  allons-nous 
toutes  les  nuits  arroser  de  nos  pleurs  le  pied  du  cypres 
que  couvre  sa  tombe. 

Ah!  tres-illustre  Dame,  que  le  souvenir  du  chat  que 
vous  avez  tant  aime,  vous  touche  au  moins  de  quelque 
pitie  pour  nous.  Nous  ne  sommes  pas  a  la  verite  de  sa 
race,  puisqu'il  fut  voue  des  sa  jeunesse  a  la  chastete ; 
mais  nous  sommes  de  son  espece.  Ses  manes,  errans 
encore  dans  ces  lieux,  vous  demandent  la  revocation  de 
1'ordre  sanguinaire  qui  menace  nos  jours ;  nous  emploie- 
rons  tous  ceux  que  vous  conserverez  a  vous  miauler 
notre  vive  reconnoissance,  et  nous  la  transmettrons  aux 
ccEurs  de  nos  enfans  et  des  enfans  de  nos  enfans. 

*  Petite  chienne. 


214  FRANKLIN'S   WETTINGS. 


TRANSLATION. 

AN  HUMBLE  PETITION,  PRESENTED  TO  MADAME 
HELVETIUS  BY  HER  CATS. 

MOST   ILLUSTRIOUS  AND  EXCELLENT  LADV, 

A  terrible  piece  of  news  has  just  reached  us,  to  interrupt  the 
happiness  we  enjoyed  in  your  poultry-yard  and  wood-yard.  We 
learn  that,  in  consequence  of  certain  calumnious  representations  on 
the  part  of  our  enemies,  your  Abbes,*  a  sentence  of  proscription  has 
been  issued  against  us,  and  that  by  means  of  a  diabolical  invention 
we  are  all  to  be  seized,  put  into  a  cask,  rolled  down  to  the  river, 
and  abandoned  to  the  mercy  of  the  waters.  At  the  moment  in 
.vhich  we  are  drawing  up  this  our  humble  request,  we  hear  the 
strokes  of  the  hammer  and  hatchet  from  the  hands  of  your  coach- 
man, who  is  employed  to  frame  the  instrument  of  our  destruction. 

But,  most  illustrious  Lady,  shall  we  be  condemned  without  being 
heard?  and  shall  we  be  the  only  creatures  among  so  many  fed  and 
nourished  by  you,  who  do  not  find  your  bosom  alive  to  justice  and 
compassion  ?  We  see  your  beneficent  hand  every  day  feeding  two 
or  three  hundred  chickens,  as  many  canary-birds,  pigeons  without 
number,  all  the  sparrows  of  the  neighbourhood,  all  the  blackbirds  of 
the  Wood  of  Boulogne,  nay,  even  the  very  dogs  of  your  domain ; 
and  shall  we  alone  not  only  cease  to  experience  the  effects  of  your 
beneficence,  but,  what  is  more  terrible  to  think  of,  become  the 
objects  of  a  cruelty  wholly  foreign  to  your  nature,  and  never  exer- 
cised but  towards  us  ?  No,  the  natural  goodness  of  your  heart  will 
recall  in  you  sentiments  more  worthy  of  your  catology. 

Alas!  what  are  the  crimes  that  we  have  committed!  We  are 
accused  —  to  what  lengths  will  not  calumny  transport  the  heart !  — 
we  are  accused  of  eating  your  chickens  while  they  are  still  young,  of 
making  depredations  from  time  o  time  upon  your  pigeons,  of  watch- 
ing your  canary-birds  incessantly,  and  seizing  any  that  come  near 
enough  to  the  lattice  of  your  aviary,  and  of  suffering  the  mice  to 
infest  your  house  unmolested. 

But  are  imputed  crimes  sufficient  to  render  any  one  guilty  ? 
These  horrible  accusations  we  can  easily  repel.  In  the  first  place, 
it  must  be  observed,  that  they  do  not  rest  upon  any  proofs.  Granted 
that  the  feet  of  some  pigeons,  or  the  feathers  of  some  chickens,  may 

*  The  Abb£s  Morellet  and  La  Roche. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  215 

be  produced ;  can  these  be  admitted  as  evidence  before  any  tribunal 
upon  earth  ?  Great  crimes  are,  besides,  the  consequences  of  great 
misery  and  want,  and  we  receive  every  day  from  you,  to  the  number 
of  eighteen  cats,  of  which  our  troop  consists,  abundant  means  of 
subsistence  ;  nothing  is  wanting  to  us.  And  can  we  be  supposed  to 
scratch  the  hand  by  which  we  are  nourished?  Have  you  not,  more 
than  once,  with  your  own  eyes,  seen  your  chickens  come  and  eat  off 
the  same  dish  with  us,  without  the  least  hostile  movement  on  our 
part  ?  And  if  you  are  told  that  we  never  eat  the  chickens  when  con- 
scious that  we  are  observed,  that  it  is  by  night  our  murders  are 
committed,  we  answer,  that  it  is  our  calumniators  who  hide  them- 
selves under  the  veil  of  darkness  to  frame  their  cruel  plots  against 
us.  This  we  may  the  rather  say,  since  they  are  reduced  to  impute 
to  us  nocturnal  crimes,  which  are  contradicted  by  our  conduct 
throughout  the  day. 

But,  say  our  enemies,  the  poultry-yard  of  our  most  illustrious  lady 
is  maintained  at  an  expense  of  twenty-five  louis  annually,  while,  of 
two  or  three  hundred  chickens  reared  there,  she  never  eats  more 
than  fifty;  so  that,  from  her  great  economy,  they  cost  hei  only 
twelve  livres  each  ;  what  then  becomes  of  the  rest  ? 

We  will  ask,  in  the  first  place,  were  the  chickens  numbered  and 
consigned  to  our  care,  and  are  we  answerable  for  them  '(  Sur- 
rounded by  so  many  destructive  beings,  by  mankind  in  particular, 
who  are  firmly  persuaded  that  chickens  were  only  created  to  be 
eaten  by  them,  is  it  on  us  that  the  first  suspicion  can  with  justice 
fall  ?  Every  Sunday,  at  the  gate  of  the  Wood  of  Boulogne,  and  in 
the  public  houses  of  Auteuil,  a  hundred  fricassees  are  served  up;  is 
it  not  probable  that  some  of  your  chickens  may  have  glided  gently  in 
among  them  ?  and  certainly  it  is  not  by  us  that  they  are  remitted  to 
the  innkeepers.  After  all,  Madam,  without  wishing  to  become  the 
apologists  of  chicken-stealers,  let  us  be  permitted  to  observe,  that 
whatever  may  be  the  causes  which  occasion  the  diminution  com- 
plained of  in  your  stock  of  poultry,  they  are  in  the  order  of  nature, 
and  produce  a  salutary  effect  to  yourself,  since  they  restrain  within 
due  bounds  the  multiplication  of  this  species,  which,  if  suffered  to  go 
on  unrestrained,  would  soon  convert  your  whole  house  into  a  recep- 
tacle for  chickens,  and  reduce  you  to  going  without  a  shift,  that  no 
limits  may  be  placed  to  the  number  of  your  fowls. 

As  to  the  pigeons,  it  must  be  allowed  that  several  of  the  children 
of  Coco*  have  disappeared  ;  but  you  must  not  permit  your  tenderness 

*  A  favorite  tame  pigeon  of  Madame  Helvetius,  to  which  she  had  given 
that  name. 


216  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

for  him,  which  goes  so  far  as  to  suffer  him  to  break  your  china,  piu 
vided  he  will  condescend  to  eat  out  of  your  hand,  to  render  you 
unjust  towards  us.  Where  is  the  proof  that  we  have  ever  eaten  any 
of  his  children?  or  do  we  and  his  species  ever  approach  each  other? 
Always  keeping  upon  the  roofs  of  the  houses  at  a  distance  from  us, 
do  they  not  manifest  a  distrust  of  us,  at  which  we  have  just  reason 
to  be  offended?  Let  the  whole  wood-yard  be  examined  next  spring, 
and  if  any  traces  of  murder  be  discovered,  we  will  be  among  the 
most  forward  in  endeavouring  to  detect  the  malefactors,  and  give 
them  up  to  justice.  But  the  pigeons  are  not  like  us  poor  humble 
cats,  confined  to  the  soil  where  we  were  born ;  they  can  fly  in  the 
air  to  another  country ;  those  whom  you  miss,  jealous  no  doubt  of 
the  preference  shown  by  you  to  some  over  the  rest,  have  taken  their 
flight  in  search  of  equality,  to  some  republican  dove-cote,  rather 
than  drag  on  a  painful  existence  under  the  insolent  tyranny  of  your 
favorite  Coco. 

The  accusation  brought  against  us  with  regard  to  the  canary- 
birds,  you  must  see  yourself  is  wholly  absurd,  and  a  gross  imposture. 
The  intervals  in  the  lattice  of  your  aviary  are  so  narrow,  that  when 
sometimes  we  have  in  sport  endeavoured  to  thrust  a  paw  through 
them,  it  was  not  without  the  utmost  difficulty  that  we  could  withdraw 
it  again.  It  is  true,  that  we  sometimes  amuse  ourselves  with  watch- 
ing the  little  innocent  sports  of  these  pretty  creatures,  but  we  cannot 
reproach  ourselves  with  having  ever  shed  a  drop  of  their  blood. 

We  shall  not  endeavour  to  defend  ourselves  equally  from  devouring 
as  many  sparrows,  blackbirds,  and  thrushes,  as  we  can  possibly  catch. 
But  here  we  have  to  plead  in  extenuation,  that  our  most  cruel 
enemies,  your  Abbes  themselves,  are  incessantly  complaining  of  the 
ravages  made  by  these  birds  among  the  cherries  and  other  fruit. 
The  Sieur  Abbe  Morellet,  in  particular,  is  always  thundering  the 
most  violent  anathemas  against  the  blackbirds  and  thrushes,  for 
plundering  your  vines,  which  they  do  with  as  little  mercy  as  he  him- 
self. To  us,  however,  most  illustrious  Lady,  it  appears  that  the 
grapes  may  just  as  well  be  eaten  by  blackbirds  as  by  Abbes,  and 
that  our  warfare  against  the  winged  plunderers  will  be  fruitless,  if 
you  encourage  other  biped  and  featherless  pilferers,  who  make  ten 
times  more  havoc. 

We  know  that  we  are  also  accused  of  eating  nightingales,  who 
never  plunder,  and  sing,  as  they  say,  most  enchantingly.  It  is 
indeed  possible  that  we  may  now  and  then  have  gratified  our  palates 
with  a  delicious  morsel  in  this  way,  but  we  can  assure  you  that  it 
was  in  utter  ignorance  of  your  affection  for  the  species ;  and  that, 


MISCELLANEOUS.  217 

resembling  sparrows  in  their  plumage,  we,  who  make  no  pretensions 
to  being  connoisseurs  in  music,  could  not  distinguish  the  song  of  the 
one  from  that  of  the  other,  and  therefore  supposed  ourselves  regaling 
only  on  sparrows.  A  cat  belonging  to  M.  Piccini  *  has  assured  us, 
that  they  who  only  know  how  to  mew,  cannot  be  any  judges  of  the 
art  of  singing ;  and  on  this  we  rest  for  our  justification.  However, 
we  will  henceforward  exert  our  utmost  endeavours  to  distinguish  the 
G/uckists,^  who  are,  as  we  are  informed,  the  sparrows,  from  the 
Picciuists,  who  are  the  nightingales.  We  only  intreat  of  you  to 
pardon  the  inadvertence  into  which  we  may  possibly  fall,  if,  in 
roving  after  nests,  we  may  sometimes  fall  upon  a  brood  of  Picdnists, 
who,  being  then  destitute  of  plumage,  and  not  having  learnt  to  sing, 
will  have  no  mark  by  which  to  distinguish  them. 

The  last  imputation  we  are  called  upon  to  repel,  most  illustrious 
Lady,  is  that  of  suffering  your  house  to  be  infested  with  such  a 
quantity  of  mice.  They  make  terrible  havoc,  it  is  said,  with  your 
sugar  and  sweetmeats ;  they  gnaw  the  books  of  your  savans,  and 
even  nibble  the  slippers  of  Mademoiselle  Luillier,  f  as  she  is  walking. 
It  is  urged,  that  cats,  being  created  by  Providence  (who  watches 
with  equ  il  goodness  over  all  his  creatures)  for  no  other  purpose  but 
to  eat  mice,  deserve  nothing  better  when  they  fail  in  the  object  of 
their  vocation,  than  to  be  drowned. 

Certainly,  most  illustrious  Lady,  it  is  easy  to  discover  in  this  Ian 
guage,  the  influence  of  personal  interest  in  the  mouths  of  our 
accusers.  The  Sieur  Cabanis,§  who  makes  an  enormous  consump- 
tion of  sweetmeats  in  your  house,  and  who  is  always  ready  to  steal  a 
lump  of  sugar  when  he  thinks  he  can  do  it  unobserved,  has  certainly 
very  good  reasons  for  making  you  consider  the  gnurmandisf  of  a  few 
mice,  who  nibble  a  loaf  of  sugar,  or  begin  eating  a  pot  of  jelly  before 
him,  as  a  capital  crime ;  but  he  shows  a  mind  still  more  atrocious 
than  interested,  when  he  would  condemn  us  as  meriting  death 
because  we  do  not  prevent  the  little  animals  availing  themselves,  to 
the  best  of  their  power,  of  a  system  of  spoliations  which  he  himself, 
great  as  he  is,  practises  every  day  without  discretion  and  without 
remorse.  Could  he  carry  his  barbarity  towards  us  further,  if  we 
were,  like  the  mice  and  himself,  augarivorous  and  sweetmcativorous 
animals?  Is  it  not  manifest,  that  gnurmandise  alone  inspires  him 

*  An  Italian  composer. 

4-  The  admirers  of  Gluck,  a  German  composer. 

t  An  old  waiting-maid  of  Madame  Helvetius. 

$  A  friend  of  Madame  Helvetius,  who  lived  in  her  house. 


218  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

u'kh  sentiments  so  cruel,  and  can  you  give  them  admission  into  your 
bosom  ? 

With  regard  to  the  books  of  the  Abbe  de  la  Roche,  and  that 
other  savant*  whose  speech  at  the  Academy  we  just  now  read  as  if 
wrapped  up  a  calf's  lights  which  you  had  the  goodness  to  give  us ; 
with  regard  to  their  books,  we  ask,  where  is  the  great  harm  if  they 
.are  sometimes  gnawed  a  little  by  the  mice?  Of  what  use  to  them  is 
all  their  reading?  Since  they  have  lived  with  you.  must  they  not 
be  fully  convinced  of  the  inutility  of  all  knowledge  ?  They  sec  you 
good  without  the  assistance  of  Treatises  upon  Morals  ;  charming  in 
your  manners  without  having  read  our  historiographer  Monet  ief's 
Art  of  Pleasing;  and  happy  without  being  acquainted  with  the 
Treatise -on  Happiness,  by  the  unfortunate  Maupertuis.  While 
they  are  the  daily  witnesses  of  your  profound  ignorance,  they,  who 
know  so  many  things,  are  wholly  unacquainted  with  the  art  you 
know  so  well, — of  being  able  to  dispense  with  knowing  any  thing. 
Your  orthography  is  not  much  better  than  ours,  and  your  writing  is 
very  like  the  scratching  of  a  cat's  paw.  You  totally  mistake  the 
way  to  spell  happiness,  but  you  enjoy  the  thing  without  knowing  how 
it  should  be  written  ;  that  happiness,  in  short,  which  they  cannot  draw 
from  their  books,  you  shed  around  them  from  the  eminence  of  your 
ignorance.  The  mice  cannot,  therefore,  as  we  have  proved,  do 
them  any  great  injury.  As  to  the  slippers  of  Mademoiselle  Luilliei, 
if  she  would  only  creep  on  at  a  somewhat  less  drawling  pace,  the  mice 
would  not  be  able  to  get  at  them ;  and  it  is  stnnge  that  you  would 
condemn  us  to  death  because  your  waiting-maid  moves  only  a 
snail's  pace. 

But  these  reasons,  strong  as  they  are.  are  not  the  only  ones  which 
may  excuse  us  towards  you  for  the  spoliations  committed  in  your 
house  by  the  mice.  Ah !  most  illustrious  Lady,  with  what  con- 
science can  we  be  reproached  for  not  catching  them,  when  you  have 
constantly  about  you  two  large  dogs  thirsting  for  our  blood,  who  will 
not  permit  us  to  approach  your  beloved  person,  as  duty  and  gratitude 
would  lead  us  to  do  ?  Two  doss !  this  is  saying  enough  ;  they  are 
animals  brought  up  in  the  utmost  hatred  of  our  species ;  their  bark- 
ing always  fills  us  with  terror.  How  can  any  one  be  so  unjust  as 
to  reproach  us  with  keeping  at  a  distance  from  places  where  animals 
thus  ferocious,  whom  nature  has  inspired  with  such  aversion  to  us, 
and  such  power  to  destroy  us,  reign  uncontrolled  ?  Nay,  farther,  if 
the  question  were  only  of  French  dogs,  there  might  be  hopes  that 
their  hatred  would  not  be  so  active,  that  their  ferocity  would  not  be 

*  The  Abbe  Morellet. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  219 

so  alarming;  but  you  must  needs  take  into  your  service  (in  contempt 
of  the  wise  decrees  of  the  comptroller-general)  a  bull-Jog  which  you 
have  imported  from  England,  who  hates  us  doubly  ;  in  the  first 
place,  as  cats,  and  still  more  ardently  as  French  cats.  We  see  daily 
before  our  eyes  the  cruel  effects  of  his  rage  in  the  shortened  tail  of 
our  brother  Lc.  Nuir.  Our  zeal  to  serve  you,  united  with  the  natu- 
ral taste  we  have  for  mice,  would  lead  us  to  form  hunting-parties  in 
your  apartments,  if  we  were  not  banished  by  these  formidable 
enemies,  whom  you  have  made  masters  of  them.  Let  us  no  longer, 
therefore,  be  reproached  with  the  disorders  committed  against  you 
by  the  mice,  since  we  are  deprived  of  the  possibility  of  repressing 
them. 

Alas  !  those  happy  times  are  no  more,  when  thit  illustrious  cat 
Pompon  reigned  in  these  places,  slept  in  your  lap,  and  reposed  upon 
your  couch !  when  that  Zemira,*  who  now  so  eagerly  endeavours  to 
procure  our  downfall,  humbly  paid  his  court  to  the  favorite  whose 
situation  he  now  occupies.  Then  could  we  parade  about  the  house 
with  our  tails  in  the  air;  the  lite  M.  l^ompon  would  sometimes  con- 
descend to  share  with  us  the  rabbits  graciously  sent  him  by  His 
Majesty  from  his  shooting -p  irties  ;  and  under  the  protection  of  this 
illustrious  favorite  we  enjoyed  peace  and  happiness.  Those  happy 
times,  we  must  repeat,  are,  alas!  no  more  ;  we  live  under  the  reign 
of  a  DOG  ;  sunk  in  deep  and  lasting  regrets  for  the  CAT,  beneath 
whose  empire  such  enjoyments  were  ours,  while  our  only  consolation 
is  to  go  every  night,  and  water  with  our  tears  the  cypress  which 
shadows  his  tomb  ! 

Ah,  most  illustrious  Lady !  let  the  memory  of  the  cat  you  so  much 
loved,  inspire  you  at  least  with  some  compassion  towards  us.  We 
are  not  indeed  of  his  race,  since  he  was  devoted  to  chastity  from 
his  youth ;  but  we  are  of  his  species.  His  manes,  still  wandering 
about  this  spot,  call  upon  you  to  revoke  the  sanguinary  order  which 
menaces  our  days;  and  all  those  which  you  preserve  to  us  shall  be 
consecrated  to  mewing  forth  our  lasting  gratitude,  while  the  be- 
neficent act  shall  be  handed  down  by  us  to  our  children's  children,  t 

*  A  little  dog. 

f  In  this  article,  and  in  the  others  under  the  head  of  BAGATELLES,  both 
the  French  and  the  translations  are  printed  as  they  stand  in  W.  T. 
Franklin's  edition.  —  EDITOR. 


220  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 


A  MONSIEUR  L'ABBE  DE  LA  ROCHE,  A  AUTEUIL. 

J'AI  parcouru,  mon  cher  ami,  le  petit  livre  de  poesies 
de  M.  Helvetius,  dont  vous  m'avez  fait  cadeau.  Le 
poe'me  sur  le  Bonheur  m'a  donne  beaucoup  de  plaisir, 
et  m'a  fait  ressouvenir  d'une  petite  chanson  a  boire, 
que  j'ai  faite  il  y  a  quarante  ans  sur  le  meme  sujet,  et  qui 
avoit  a-peu-pres  le  meme  plan,  et  plusieurs  des  memes 
pensees,  mais  bien  densement  exprimees.  La  voici. 

Singer. 

Fair  Venus  calls;  her  voice  obey, 
Jn   beauty's  anus  spend  night  and  day. 
The  pys  of  love  all  joys  excel, 
And  loving 's  certainly  doing  well. 

Chorus. 


Oh!  no! 

Not  so! 

For  honest  souls  know, 

Friends  and  a  bottle  still   bear  the  bell. 

Singer. 

Then  let  us  get  money,  like  bees  lay  up  honey  ; 
We  'II  build  us  new  hives,  and  store  each   cell. 
The  sight  of  our  treasure  shall  yield  us  great  pleasure; 
We'll  count   it,  and  chink   it,  and  jingle  it  well. 


Oh!   no! 

Not  so ! 

For  honest  souls  know, 

Friends  and  a  lx>ttle  still   bear  the  brll. 


If  this  does  not  lit  ye,  let  's  govern  the  city, 

In  power  is  pleasure  no  tongue  can  tell  ; 

By  crowds  though  you  're  teased,  your  pride  shrill  be  pleased, 

And  this  can  make  Lucifer  happy  in  hell! 


MISCELLANEOUS  221 

Chorus. 

Oh!   no! 

Not  so! 

For  honest  souls  know, 

Friends  and  a  bottle  still  bea?   the  bell. 

Singer. 

Then  toss  off  your  glasses,  and  scorn  the  dull  asses, 
Who,  missing  the  kernel,  still  gnaw  the  sheii ; 
What 's  love,  rule,  or  riches  1  Wise  Solomon  teaches, 
They're  vanity,  vanity,  vanity  still. 

Chorus. 

That 's  true  ; 

He  knew; 

He  'd  tried  them  all  through ; 

Friends  and  a  bottle  still  bore  the  bell. 

C'est  un  chanteur,  mon  cher  Abbe,  qui  exhorte  ses 
compagnons  de  chercher  le  bonheur  dans  Vamour,  dans 
les  richesses,  et  dans  le  pouvoir.  Us  repliquent,  chan- 
tant  ensemble,  que  le  bonheur  ne  se  trouve  pas  en  aucu- 
nes  de  ces  choses,  et  qu'on  ne  le  trouve  que  dans  les 
amis  et  le  vin.  A  cette  position,  le  chanteur  enfin  con- 
sent. La  phrase  "bear  the  bell"  signifie  en  Francois 
remporter  le  prix. 

J'ai  sou  vent  remarque,  en  lisant  les  ouvrages  de 
M.  Helvetius,  que  quoique  nous  etions  nes  et  eleves 
dans  deux  pays  si  eloignes  1'un  de  1'autre,  nous  nous 
sommes  rencontres  souvent  dans  les  memes  pensees ;  et 
c'est  une  reflexion  bien  flatteuse  pour  moi,  que  nous 
avons  aime  les  memes  etudes,  et  autant  que  nous  les 
avions  connus,  les  memes  amis,*  et  la  mcme  femme.^ 
Adieu  !  mon  cher  ami,  &,c.  B.  F. 

*  Messrs.  Voltaire,  Hume,  Turgot,  Marmontel,  d'Holbach,  Le  Roy,  les 
Abbes  Morellet  et  La  Roche,  &c.  &c.  —  W.  T.  F. 
T  Madame  Helvetius. 


222  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

TRANSLATION. 

TO  THE  ABBE  DE  LA  ROCHE,  AT  AUTEUIL. 

I  HAVE  run  over,  my  dear  friend,  the  little  book  of  poetry,  by 
M  Helvetius,  with  which  you  presented  me.  The  poem  on 
Happiness  pleased  me  much,  and  brought  to  my  recollection  a 
little  drinking  song,  which  I  wrote  forty  years  ago  upon  the  same 
subject,  and  which  is  nearly  on  the  same  plan,  with  many  of  the 
same  thoughts,  but  very  concisely  expressed.  It  is  as  follows. 

Singer. 

Fair   Venus  calls,  &,c. 

'Tis  a  singer,  my  dear  Abbe,  who  exhorts  his  companions  to 
seek  happiness  in  love,  in  riches,  and  in  power.  They  reply, 
singing  together,  that  happiness  is  not  to  be  found  in  any  of  these 
things ;  that  it  is  only  to  be  found  in  friends  and  wine.  To  this 
proposition  the  singer  at  length  assents.  The  phrase  "  bear  the 
bell,"  answers  to  the  French  expression,  "obtain  the  prize." 

I  have  often  remarked,  in  reading  the  works  of  M.  Helvetius, 
that,  although  we  were  born  and  educated  in  two  countries  so 
remote  from  each  other,  we  have  often  been  inspired  with  the 
same  thoughts ;  and  it  is  a  reflection  very  flattering  to  me,  that  we 
have  not  only  loved  the  same  studies,  but,  as  far  as  we  have  mutually 
known  them,  the  same  friends,  and  the  same  woman. 
Adieu  !  my  dear  friend,  &,c. 

B    F 


A  MONSIEUR  L'ABBE  MORELLET. 

I'assy,  Ic  *  *  *. 

Vous  m'avez  sou  vent  egaye,  mon  tres-cher  ami,  par 
vos  excellentes  chansons  a.  boire ;  en  echange,  je  desire 
vous  edifier  par  quelques  reflexions  Chretiennes,  morales 
et  philosophiques,  sur  le  merne  sujet. 

In  vino  veritas,  dit  le  sage.  La  v&rite  est  dans  le  vin. 
Avant  Noe  done,  les  hommes,  n'ayant  que  de  1'eau  si 


MISCELLANEOUS.  223 

boire,  ne  pouvoient  pas  trouver  la  verite.  Ainsi  ils 
s'egarerent,  ils  devinrent  abominablement  mediants, 
et  ils  furent  justement  extermines  par  Veau  qu'ils 
aimoient  a  boire. 

Ce  bon-hommc  Noe,  ayant  vu  que  par  cette  mauvaise 
boisson  tous  ses  contemporains  avoient  peri,  le  prit  en 
aversion ;  et  Dieu,  pour  le  desalterer,  crea  la  vigne,  et 
lui  re  vela  1'art  d'en  faire  du  vin.  Par  1'aide  de  cette 
liqueur,  il  decouvrit  maintes  et  maintes  verites ;  et  de- 
puis  son  temps,  le  mot  "det/iwer"  a  ete  en  usage, 
signifiant  originairement  dlcouvrir  par  le  moyen  du  VIN. 
Ainsi  le  patriarche  Joseph  protendoit  deviner  au  moyen 
d'une  coupe  ou  verre  de  VIN;*  liqueur  qui  a  rec^u  ce 
nom  pour  marquer  qu'elle  n'etoit  pas  une  invention 
humaine,  mais  divine ;  (autre  preuve  de  1'antiquite  de  la 
langue  Francoise,  centre  M.  Gebelin.)!  Aussi,  depuis 
ce  temps,  toutes  les  choses  excellentes,  meme  les  Deites, 
out  ete  appelees  divines  ou  divinitcs. 

On  parle  de  la  conversion  de  1'eau  en  vin,  a.  la  noce 
de  Cana,  comme  d'un  miracle.  Mais  cette  conversion 
est  faite  tous  les  jours,  par  la  bonte  de  Dieu,  sous  nos 
yeux.  Voila  1'eau  qui  tombe  des  cieux  sur  nos  vigno- 
bles,  et  alors  elle  entre  dans  les  racines  des  vignes  pour 
etre  changee  en  vin ;  preuve  constante  que  Dieu  nous 
aime,  et  qu'il  aime  a  nous  voir  heureux.  Le  miracle 
particulier  a  ete  fait  seulement  pour  hater  1'operation, 
dans  une  circonstance  de  besoin  soudain,  qui  le  deman- 
doit. 

II  est  vrai  que  Dieu  a  aussi  instruit  les  hommes  a 
reduire  le  vin  en  eau.  Mais  quelle  espece  d'eau  ?  C'est 

*  L'orateur  Remain,  qui  est  bien  connu  par  ses  mauvaises  poesies, 
d'etre  un  buveur  rf'e««,  confesse  franchement,  dans  son  livre  De  DIVIN- 
ationc,  qu'il  ne  savoit  pas  deviner.  "  Qwtrf  futnrum  sit  non  </tviNo."  — 
AUTHOR. 

+  Author  of  "  Lt  Monde  primitif  compare  au  Monde  moderne." 


224  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

Peaii-de-vie.  Et  cela,  afin  que  par-la  ils  puissent,  au 
besoin,  faire  le  miracle  de  Cana,  et  convertir  1'eau 
ordinaire  en  cette  espece  excellente  de  vin,  qu'on  appelle 
punch ! 

Mon  frere  Chretien,  soyez  bienveillant  et  bienfaisant 
comme  lui,  et  ne  gatez  pas  son  bon  ouvrage.  II  a  fait 
le  vin  pour  nous  rejouir.  Quand  vous  voyez  votre 
voisin  a  table  verser  du  vin  dans  son  verre,  ne  vous 
hatez  pas  a  y  verser  du  1'eau.  Pourquoi  voulez-vous 
noyer  la  veritv  ?  11  est  vraisemblable  que  votre  voisin 
sait  mieux  que  vous  ce  qui  lui  convient,  Peut-etre  il 
n'aime  pas  1'eau ;  peut-etre  il  ne  veut  mettre  que  quel- 
ques  gouttes,  par  complaisance  pour  la  mode ;  peut-etre 
il  ne  veut  pas  qu'un  autre  observe  combien  peu  il  en 
met  dans  son  verre.  Done,  n'offrez  1'eau  qu'aux 
enfans;  c'est  une  fausse  politesse,  et  bien  incommode. 
Je  vous  dis  ceci  comme  homme  du  monde  ;  et  je  fmirai. 
comme  j'ai  commence,  en  bon  Chretien,  en  vous  faisant 
une  observation  religieuse  bien  importante,  et  tiree  de 
1'Ecriture  Sainte ;  savoir  que  1'apotre  Paul  conseilloit 
bien  serieusement  a  Timothee  de  mettre  du  vin  dans 
son  eau  pour  la  sante  ;  mais  que  pas  un  des  apotres,  ni 
aucuns  des  saints  peres,  n'ont  jamais  conseille  de  mettre 
de  feau  dans  le  vin  !  B.  F. 

P.  S.  Pour  vous  confirmer  encore  plus  dans  votre 
piete  et  reconnoissance  &  la  Providence  Divine,  reflechis- 
sez  sur  la  situation  qu'elle  a  donnee  au  coude.  Vous 
voyez  aussi  que  les  animaux  qui  doivent  boire  1'eau  qui 
coule  sur  la  terre,  s'ils  ont  des  jambes  longues,  ont  aussi 
un  cou  long,  afin  qu'ils  puissent  atteindre  leur  boisson 
sans  la  peine  de  se  mettre  a  genoux.  Mais  1'homme, 
qui  etoit  destine  a  boire  du  vin,  doit  etre  en  etat  de  por- 
ter le  verre  a  sa  bouche.  Si  le  coude  avoit  etc  place 
plus  pres  de  la  main,  la  partie  d'avant  auroit  etc  trop 


MISCELLANEOUS.  225 

courte  pour  approcher  le  verre  de  la  bouche ;  et  s'il 
avoit  ete  place  plus  pres  de  1'epaule,  la  partie  seroit  si 
longue  qu'il  porteroit  le  verre  au-dela  de  la  tete.  Ainsi 
nous  aurions  ete  tantalises.  Mais  par  la  presente  situa- 
tion du  coude  nous  sommes  en  etat  de  boire  a  notre 
aise  ;  le  verre  venant  justement  a  la  bouche.  —  Adorons 
done,  le  verre  a  la  main,  cette  sagesse  bienveillante ! 
Adorons,  et  buvons ! 


TRANSLATION. 

TO  THE  ABBE  MORELLET. 

Passy,  *  *  *. 

You  have  often  enlivened  me,  my  dear  friend,  by  your  excellent 
drinking  songs  ;  in  return,  I  beg  to  edify  you  by  some  Christian, 
moral,  and  philosophical  reflections  upon  the  same  subject. 

In  vino  vcritas,  says  the  wise  man, —  Truth  is  in  wine.  Before 
the  days  of  Noah  then,  men,  having  nothing  but  water  to  drink, 
could  not  discover  the  truth.  Thus  they  went  astray,  became 
abominably  wicked,  and  were  justly  exterminated  by  water,  which 
they  loved  to  drink. 

The  good  man  Noah,  seeing  that  through  this  pernicious  bev- 
erage all  his  cotemporaries  had  perished,  took  it  in  aversion;  and, 
to  quench  his  thirst,  God  created  the  vine,  and  revealed  to  him  the 
means  of  converting  its  fruit  into  wine.  By  means  of  this  liquor  he 
discovered  numberless  important  truths  ;  so  that  ever  since  his  time 
the  word  to  divine  has  been  in  common  use,  signifying  originally 
to  discover  by  means  of  WINE.  Thus  the  patriarch  Joseph  took 
upon  himself  to  divine  by  means  of  a  cup  or  glass  of  WINE;*  a 
liquor  which  obtained  this  name  to  show  that  it  was  not  of  human 
but  divine  invention  (another  proof  of  the  antiquity  of  the  French 
language,  in  opposition  to  M.  Gebelin) ;  nay,  since  that  time,  all 
things  of  peculiar  excellence,  even  the  Deities  themselves,  have  been 
called  Divine  or  Dignities. 

*  The  Roman  orator,  who  is  well  known  by  his  bad  poetry  to  hav« 
oeen  a  water-drinker,  frankly  acknowledges  in  his  book  De  Divinatione, 
that  he  did  not  know  how  to  divine.     "  QutW  ftUurum  sit  non  divino" 
VOL.    II.  15 


226  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

We  hear  of  the  conversion  of  water  into  wine  at  the  marriage 
in  Cana,  as  of  a  miracle.  But  this  conversion  is,  through  the 
goodness  of  God,  made  every  day  before  our  eyes.  Behold  the  rain, 
which  descends  from  heaven  upon  our  vineyards,  and  which  incor- 
porates itself  with  the  grapes  to  be  changed  into  wine ;  a  constant 
proof  that  God  loves  us,  and  loves  to  see  us  happy.  The  miracle 
in  question  was  only  performed  to  hasten  the  operation,  under  cir- 
cumstances of  present  necessity,  which  required  it. 

It  is  true  that  God  has  also  instructed  man  to  reduce  wine  into 
water.  But  into  what  sort  of  water? — Water  of  Life.*  And 
this,  that  man  may  be  able  upon  occasion  to  perform  the  miracle 
of  Cana,  and  convert  common  water  into  that  excellent  species 
of  wine  which  we  call  punch. 

My  Christian  brother,  be  kind  and  benevolent  like  God,  and  do 
not  spoil  his  good  work.  He  made  wine  to  gladden  the  heart  of 
man;  —  do  not,  therefore,  when  at  table  you  see  your  neighbour 
pour  wine  into  his  glass,  be  eager  to  mingle  water  with  it.  Why 
would  you  drown  truth  1  It  is  probable  that  your  neighbour  knows 
better  than  you  can,  what  suits  him.  Perhaps  he  does  not  like 
water  ;  perhaps  he  would  only  put  in  a  few  drops  for  fashion's  sake  ; 
perhaps  he  does  not  wish  any  one  to  observe  how  much  he  puts  in 
his  glass.  Do  not  then  offer  water  except  to  children ;  't  is  a 
mistaken  piece  of  politeness,  and  often  very  inconvenient.  I  give 
you  this  hint  as  a  man  of  the  world  ;  and  I  will  finish  as  I  began, 
like  a  good  Christian,  in  making  a  religious  observation  of  high 
importance,  taken  from  the  Holy  Scriptures;  I  mean  that  the 
apostle  Paul  counselled  Timothy  very  seriously  to  put  wine  into  his 
water  for  the  sake  of  his  health  ;  but  that  not  one  of  the  apostles  or 
holy  fathers  ever  recommended  putting  water  to  wine. 

B.  F. 

P.  S.  To  confirm  still  more  your  piety  and  gratitude  to  Divine 
Providence,  reflect  upon  the  situation  which  it  has  given  to  the 
elbow.  You  see  in  animals  who  are  intended  to  drink  the  waters 
that  flow  upon  the  earth,  that  if  they  have  long  legs,  they  have  also 
a  long  neck,  so  that  they  can  get  at  their  drink  without  kneeling 
down.  But  man,  who  was  destined  to  drink  wine,  is  framed  in  a 
manner  that  he  may  raise  the  glass  to  his  mouth.  If  the  elbow  had 
been  placed  nearer  the  hand,  the  part  in  advance  would  have  been 
too  short  to  bring  the  glass  up  to  the  mouth ;  and  if  it  had  been 
nearer  the  shoulder,  that  part  would  have  been  so  long,  that  when 

*  Eau-de-vie,  that  is,  brandy. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  227 

it  attempted  to  carry  the  wine  to  the  mouth  it  would  have  overshot 
the  mark,  and  gone  beyond  the  head  ;  thus,  either  way,  we  should 
have  been  in  the  case  of  Tantalus.  But  from  the  actual  situation  of 
the  elbow  we  are  enabled  to  drink  at  our  ease,  the  glass  going 
directly  to  the  mouth.  Let  us,  then,  with  glass  in  hand,  adore  this 
benevolent  wisdom ;  —  let  us  adore  and  drink  ! 


AN  ECONOMICAL  PROJECT. 

TO  THE  AUTHORS  OF  THE  JOURNAL  OF  PARIS. 

MESSIEURS, 

You  often  entertain  us  with  accounts  of  new  dis- 
coveries. Permit  me  to  communicate  to  the  public, 
through  your  paper,  one  that  has  lately  been  made 
by  myself,  and  which  I  conceive  may  be  of  great 
utility. 

I  was  the  other  evening  in  a  grand  company,  where 
the  new  lamp  of  Messrs.  Quinquet  and  Lange  was 
introduced,  and  much  admired  for  its  splendor ;  but 
a  general  inquiry  was  made,  whether  the  oil  it  con- 
sumed was  not  in  proportion  to  the  light  it  afforded, 
in  which  case  there  would  be  no  saving  in  the  use  of 
it.  No  one  present  could  satisfy  us  in  that  point, 
which  all  agreed  ought  to  be  known,  it  being  a  vtty 
desirable  thing  to  lessen,  if  possible,  the  expense  of 
lighting  our  apartments,  when  every  other  article  of 
family  expense  was  so  much  augmented. 

I  was  pleased  to  see  this  general  concern  for  econ- 
omy, for  I  love  economy  exceedingly. 

I  went  home,  and  to  bed,  three  or  four  hours  after 
midnight,  with  my  head  full  of  the  subject.  An  acci- 
dental sudden  noise  waked  me  about  six  in  the  morn- 
ing, when  I  was  surprised  to  find  my  room  filled  with 


228  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

light ;  and  I  imagined  at  first,  that  a  number  of  those 
lamps  had  been  brought  into  it ;  but,  rubbing  my  eyes, 
I  perceived  the  light  came  in  at  the  windows.  I  got 
up  and  looked  out  to  see  what  might  be  the 
occasion  of  it,  when  I  saw  the  sun  just  rising  above  the 
horizon,  from  whence  he  poured  his  rays  plentifully  into 
my  chamber,  my  domestic  having  negligently  omitted, 
the  preceding  evening,  to  close  the  shutters. 

I  looked  at  my  watch,  which  goes  very  well,  and  found 
that  it  was  but  six  o'clock ;  and  still  thinking  it  some- 
thing extraordinary  that  the  sun  should  rise  so  early,  I 
looked  into  the  almanac,  where  I  found  it  to  be  the 
hour  given  for  his  rising  on  that  day.  I  looked  for- 
ward, too,  and  found  he  was  to  rise  still  earlier  every 
day  till  towards  the  end  of  June ;  and  that  at  no  time 
in  the  year  he  retarded  his  rising  so  long  as  till  eight 
o'clock.  Your  readers,  who  with  me  have  never  seen 
any  signs  of  sunshine  before  noon,  and  seldom  regard 
the  astronomical  part  of  the  almanac,  will  be  as  much 
astonished  as  I  was,  when  they  hear  of  his  rising  so 
early ;  and  especially  when  I  assure  them,  that  he  gives 
light  as  soon  as  he  rises.  I  am  convinced  of  this.  I 
am  certain  of  my  fact.  One  cannot  be  more  certain  of 
any  fact.  I  saw  it  with  my  own  eyes.  And,  having 
repeated  this  observation  the  three  following  mornings, 
I  found  always  precisely  the  same  result. 

Yet  it  so  happens,  that  when  I  speak  of  this  dis- 
covery to  others,  I  can  easily  perceive  by  their  counte- 
nances, though  they  forbear  expressing  it  in  words,  that 
they  do  not  quite  believe  me.  One,  indeed,  who  is  a 
learned  natural  philosopher,  has  assured  me  that  I  must 
certainly  be  mistaken  as  to  the  circumstance  of  the 
light  coming  into  my  room ;  for  it  being  well  known,  as 
he  says,  that  there  could  be  no  light  abroad  at  that 
hour,  it  follows  that  none  could  enter  from  without; 


MISCELLANEOUS.  229 

and  that  of  consequence,  my  windows  being  acciden- 
tally left  open,  instead  of  letting  in  the  light,  had  only 
served  to  let  out  the  darkness;  and  he  used  many 
ingenious  arguments  to  show  me  how  I  might,  by  that 
means,  have  been  deceived.  I  owned  that  he  puzzled 
me  a  little,  but  he  did  not  satisfy  me ;  and  the  subse- 
quent observations  I  made,  as  above  mentioned,  con- 
firmed me  in  my  first  opinion. 

This  event  has  given  rise  in  my  mind  to  several 
serious  and  important  reflections.  I  considered  that, 
if  I  had  not  been  awakened  so  early  in  the  morning,  I 
should  have  slept  six  hours  longer  by  the  light  of  the 
sun,  and  in  exchange  have  lived  six  hours  the  following 
night  by  candle-light ;  and,  the  latter  being  a  much 
more  expensive  light  than  the  former,  my  love  of  econ- 
omy induced  me  to  muster  up  what  little  arithmetic  I 
was  master  of,  and  to  make  some  calculations,  which  I 
shall  give  you,  after  observing  that  utility  is,  in  my 
opinion,  the  test  of  value  in  matters  of  invention,  and 
that  a  discovery  which  can  be  applied  to  no  use,  or  is 
not  good  for  something,  is  good  for  nothing. 

I  took  for  the  basis  of  my  calculation  the  supposition 
that  there  are  one  hundred  thousand  families  in  Paris, 
and  that  these  families  consume  in  the  night  half  a 
pound  of  bougies,  or  candles,  per  hour.  I  think  this 
is  a  moderate  allowance,  taking  one  family  with  anoth- 
er; for  though  I  believe  some  consume  less,  I  know 
that  many  consume  a  great  deal  more.  Then  estima- 
ting seven  hours  per  day  as  the  medium  quantity  be- 
tween the  time  of  the  sun's  rising  and  ours,  he  rising 
during  the  six  following  months  from  six  to  eight  hours 
before  noon,  and  there  being  seven  hours  of  course  per 
night  in  which  we  burn  candles,  the  account  will  stand 
thus ;  — 


230  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

In  the  six  months  between  the  20th  of  March  and 
the  20th  of  September,  there  are 

Nights 183 

Hours  of  each  night  in  which  we  burn 
candles  .......  7 

Multiplication  gives  for  the  total  number 

of  hours 1,281 

These    1,281    hours     multiplied     by 

100,000,  the  number  of  inhabitants,  give   128,100,000 

One   hundred   twenty-eight   millions  and 

one  hundred  thousand  hours,  spent  at 

Paris  by  candle-light,  which,  at  half  a 

pound    of  wax  and   tallow   per   hour, 

gives  the  weight  of    .         .         .         .       64,050,000 

Sixty -four  millions  and  fifty  thousand  of 

pounds,  which,  estimating  the  whole  at 

the   medium   price   of  thirty    sols    the 

pound,   makes   the   sum  of   ninety- six 

millions  and  seventy-five  thousand  livres 

tournois 96,075,000 

An  immense  sum !  that  the  city  of  Paris  might  save 
every  year,  by  the  economy  of  using  sunshine  instead 
of  candles. 

If  it  should  be  said,  that  people  are  apt  to  be  obsti- 
nately attached  to  old  customs,  and  that  it  will  be  diffi- 
cult to  induce  them  to  rise  before  noon,  consequently 
my  discovery  can  be  of  little  use  ;  I  answer,  Nil  dcs- 
perandum.  I  believe  all  who  have  common  sense,  as 
soon  as  they  have  learnt  from  this  paper  that  it  is  day- 
light when  the  sun  rises,  will  contrive  to  rise  with  him ; 
and,  to  compel  the  rest,  I  would  propose  the  following 
regulations ; 

First.  Let  a  tax  be  laid  of  a  louis  per  window,  on 
every  window  that  is  provided  with  shutters  to  keep 
out  the  light  of  the  sun. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  231 

Second.  Let  the  same  salutary  operation  of  police  be 
made  use  of,  to  prevent  our  burning  candles,  that  in- 
clined us  last  winter  to  be  more  economical  in  burning 
wood ;  that  is,  let  guards  be  placed  in  the  shops  of  the 
wax  and  tallow  chandlers,  arid  no  family  be  permitted 
to  be  supplied  with  more  than  one  pound  of  candles 
per  week. 

Third.  Let  guards  also  be  posted  to  stop  all  the 
coaches,  &c.  that  would  pass  the  streets  after  sun-set, 
except  those  of  physicians,  surgeons,  and  midwives. 

Fourth.  Every  morning,  as  soon  as  the  sun  rises, 
let  all  the  bells  in  every  church  be  set  ringing ;  and  if 
that  is  not  sufficient,  let  cannon  be  fired  in  every  street, 
to  wake  the  sluggards  effectually,  and  make  them  open 
their  eyes  to  see  their  true  interest. 

All  the  difficulty  will  be  in  the  first  two  or  three 
days  ;  after  which  the  reformation  will  be  as  natural  and 
easy  as  the  present  irregularity ;  for,  ce  n'est  que  le 
premier  pas  qui  coute.  Oblige  a  man  to  rise  at  four  in 
the  morning,  and  it  is  more  than  probable  he  will  go 
willingly  to  bed  at  eight  in  the  evening ;  and,  having 
had  eight  hours  sleep,  he  will  rise  more  willingly  at  four 
in  the  morning  following.  But  this  sum  of  ninety-six 
millions  and  seventy -five  thousand  livres  is  not  the 
whole  of  what  may  be  saved  by  my  economical  project. 
You  may  observe,  that  I  have  calculated  upon  only  one 
half  of  the  year,  and  much  may  be  saved  in  the  other, 
though  the  days  are  shorter.  Besides,  the  immense 
stock  of  wax  and  tallow  left  unconsumed  during  the 
summer,  will  probably  make  candles  much  cheaper  for 
the  ensuing  winter,  and  continue  them  cheaper  as  long 
as  the  proposed  reformation  shall  be  supported. 

For  the  great  benefit  of  this  discovery,  thus  freely 
communicated  and  bestowed  by  me  on  the  public,  I 
demand  neither  place,  pension,  exclusive  privilege,  nor 


232  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

any  other  reward  whatever.  I  expect  only  to  have  the 
honor  of  it.  And  yet  I  know  there  are  little,  envious 
minds,  who  will,  as  usual,  deny  me  this,  and  say,  that 
my  invention  was  known  to  the  ancients,  and  perhaps 
they  may  bring  passages  out  of  the  old  books  in  prool 
of  it.  I  will  not  dispute  with  these  people,  that  the 
ancients  knew  not  the  sun  would  rise  at  certain  hours  ; 
they  possibly  had,  as  we  have,  almanacs  that  predicted 
it;  but  it  does  not  follow  thence,  that  they  knew  he 
gave  light  as  soon  as  he  rose.  This  is  what  I  claim  as 
my  discovery.  If  the  ancients  knew  it,  it  might  have 
been  long  since  forgotten ;  for  it  certainly  was  unknown 
to  the  moderns,  at  least  to  the  Parisians,  which  to  prove, 
I  need  use  but  one  plain  simple  argument.  They  are 
as  well  instructed,  judicious,  and  prudent  a  people  as 
exist  anywhere  in  the  world,  all  professing,  like  myself, 
to  be  lovers  of  economy ;  and,  from  the  many  heavy 
taxes  required  from  them  by  the  necessities  of  the 
state,  have  surely  an  abundant  reason  to  be  economical. 
I  say  it  is  impossible  that  so  sensible  a  people,  under 
such  circumstances,  should  have  lived  so  long  by  the 
smoky,  unwholesome,  and  enormously  expensive  light 
of  candles,  if  they  had  really  known,  that  they  might 
have  had  as  much  pure  light  of  the  sun  for  nothing. 
I  am,  &.c.  A  SUBSCRIBER. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  233 

THE  CRAVEN-STREET  GAZETTE. 


While  the  author  resided  in  London  he  lived  for  the  most  part 
in  the  family  of  Mrs.  Stevenson  in  Craven  Street.  The  following 
humorous  journal  pretends  to  have  been  kept  during  a  few  days' 
absence  of  that  lady  from  home.  —  EDITOR. 


Saturday,  September  22,  1770. 

THIS  morning  Queen  Margaret,  accompanied  by  her 
first  maid  of  honor,  Miss  Franklin,  set  out  for  Rochester. 
Immediately  on  their  departure,  the  whole  street  was  in 
tears  —  from  a  heavy  shower  of  rain.  It  is  whispered, 
that  the  new  family  administration,  which  took  place  on 
her  Majesty's  departure,  promises,  like  all  other  new 
administrations,  to  govern  much  better  than  the  old  one. 

We  hear,  that  the  great  person  (so  called  from  his 
enormous  size),  of  a  certain  family  in  a  certain  street,  is 
grievously  affected  at  the  late  changes,  and  could  hardly 
be  comforted  this  morning,  though  the  new  ministry 
promised  him  a  roasted  shoulder  of  mutton  and  potatoes . 
for  his  dinner. 

It  is  said,  that  the  same  great  person  intended  to  pay 
his  respects  to  another  great  personage  this  day,  at  St. 
James's,  it  being  coronation -day ;  hoping  thereby  a  little 
to  amuse  his  grief;  but  was  prevented  by  an  accident, 
Queen  Margaret,  or  her  maid  of  honor,  having  carried 
off  the  key  of  the  drawers,  so  that  the  lady  of  the  bed- 
chamber could  not  come  at  a  laced  shirt  for  his  High- 
ness. Great  clamors  were  made  on  this  occasion 
against  her  Majesty. 

Other  accounts  say,  that  the  shirts  were  afterwards 


234  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

found,  though  too  late,  in  another  place.  And  some 
suspect,  that  the  wanting  a  shirt  from  those  drawers 
was  only  a  ministerial  pretence  to  excuse  picking  the 
locks,  that  the  new  administration  might  have  every 
, thing  at  command. 

We  hear  that  the  lady  chamberlain  of  the  household 
went  to  market  this  morning  by  her  own  self,  gave  the 
butcher  whatever  he  asked  for  the  mutton,  and  had  no 
dispute  with  the  potato-woman,  to  their  great  amaze- 
ment at  the  change  of  times. 

It  is  confidently  asserted,  that  this  afternoon,  the 
weather  being  wet,  the  great  person  a  little  chilly,  and 
nobody  at  home  to  find  fault  with  the  expense  of  fuel, 
he  was  indulged  with  a  fire  in  his  chamber.  It  seems 
the  design  is,  to  make  him  contented  by  degrees  with 
the  absence  of  the  Queen. 

A  project  has  been  under  consideration  of  govern- 
ment, to  take  the  opportunity  of  her  Majesty's  absence 
for  doing  a  thing  she  was  always  averse  to,  namely, 
fixing  a  new  lock  on  the  street  door,  or  getting  a  key 
made  to  the  old  one ;  it  being  found  extremely  incon- 
venient, that  one  or  other  of  the  great  officers  of  state 
should,  whenever  the  maid  goes  out  for  a  ha'penny 
worth  of  sand,  or  a  pint  of  porter,  be  obliged  to  attend 
the  door  to  let  her  in  again.  But  opinions  being 
divided,  which  of  the  two  expedients  to  adopt,  the 
project  is,  for  the  present,  laid  aside. 

We  have  good  authority  to  assure  our  readers,  that  a 
Cabinet  Council  was  held  this  afternoon  at  tea ;  the 
subject  of  which  was  a  proposal  for  the  reformation  of 
manners,  and  a  more  strict  observation  of  the  Lord's 
day.  The  result  was  a  unanimous  resolution,  that  no 
meat  should  be  dressed  to-morrow;  whereby  the  cook 
and  the  first  minister  will  both  be  at  iioerty  to  go  to 
church,  the  one  having  nothing  to  do,  and  the  other  no 


MISCELLANEOUS.  235 

roast  to  rule.  It  seems  the  cold  shoulder  of  mutton, 
and  the  apple-pie,  were  thought  sufficient  for  Sunday's 
dinner.  All  pious  people  applaud  this  measure,  and  it 
is  thought  the  new  ministry  will  soon  become  popular. 

We  hear  that  Mr.  Wilkes  was  at  a  certain  house  in 
Craven  Street  this  day,  and  inquired  after  the  absent 
Queen.  His  good  lady  and  the  children  are  well. 

The  report,  that  Mr.  Wilkes,  the  patriot,  made  the 
above  visit,  is  without  foundation,  it  being  his  brother, 
the  courtier. 

Sunday,  September  23. 

It  is  now  found  by  sad  experience,  that  good  reso- 
lutions are  easier  made  than  executed.  Notwithstand- 
ing yesterday's  solemn  order  of  Council,  nobody  went 
to  church  to-day.  It  seems  the  great  person's  broad- 
built  bulk  lay  so  long  abed,  that  the  breakfast  was  not 
over  till  it  was  too  late  to  dress.  At  least  this  is  the 
excuse.  In  fine,  it  seems  a  vain  thing  to  hope  reforma- 
tion from  the  example  of  our  great  folks. 

The  cook  and  the  minister,  however,  both  took 
advantage  of  the  order  so  far,  as  to  save  themselves 
all  trouble,  and  the  clause  of  cold  dinner  was  en- 
forced, though  the  going  to  church  was  dispensed 
with ;  just  as  common  working  folks  observe  the  com- 
mandment. The  seventh  dcty  thou  shalt  rest,  they 
think  a  sacred  injunction ;  but  the  other  six  days  thou 
shalt  labor  is  deemed  a  mere  piece  of  advice,  which 
they  may  practise  when  they  want  bread  and  are  out  of 
credit  at  the  ale-house,  and  may  neglect  whenever  they 
have  money  in  their  pockets. 

It  must,  nevertheless,  be  said,  in  justice  to  our  court, 
that,  whatever  inclination  they  had  to  gaming,  no  cards 
were  brought  out  to-day.  Lord  and  Lady  Hewson 
walked  after  dinner  to  Kensington,  to  pay  their  duty  to 
the  Dowager,  and  Dr.  Fatsides  made  four  hundred  and 


236  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

sixty-nine  turns  in  his  dining-room,  as  the  exact  dis- 
tance of  a  visit  to  the  lovely  Lady  Barwell,  whom  he 
did  not  find  at  home ;  so  there  was  no  struggle  for  and 
against  a  kiss,  and  he  sat  down  to  dream  in  the  easy- 
chair,  that  he  had  it  without  any  trouble. 

Monday,  September  24. 

We  are  credibly  informed,  that  the  great  person 
dined  this  day  with  the  Club  at  the  Cat  and  Bagpipes 
in  the  City,  on  cold  round  of  boiled  beef.  This,  it 
seems,  he  was  under  some  necessity  of  doing  (though 
he  rather  dislikes  beef),  because  truly  the  ministers 
were  to  be  all  abroad  somewhere  to  dine  on  hot  roast 
venison.  It  is  thought,  that,  if  the  Queen  had  been  at 
home,  he  would  not  have  been  so  slighted.  And 
though  he  shows  outwardly  no  marks  of  dissatisfaction, 
it  is  suspected,  that  he  begins  to  wish  for  her  Majesty's 
return. 

It  is  currently  reported,  that  poor  Nanny  had  nothing 
for  dinner  in  the  kitchen,  for  herself  and  puss,  but  the 
scrapings  of  the  bones  of  Saturday's  mutton. 

This  evening  there  was  high  play  at  Craven  Street 
House.  The  great  person  lost  money.  It  is  supposed 
the  ministers,  as  is  usually  supposed  of  all  ministers, 
shared  the  emoluments  among  them. 

Tuesday,  September  25. 

This  morning  the  good  Lord  Hutton  called  at 
Craven-Street  House,  and  inquired  very  respectfully  and 
affectionately  concerning  the  welfare  of  the  Queen. 
He  then  imparted  to  the  big  man  a  piece  of  intelligence 
important  to  them  both,  which  he  had  just  received 
from  Lady  Hawkesworth,  namely,  that  their  amiable 
and  excellent  companion,  Miss  Dorothea  Blount,  had 
made  a  vow  to  marry  absolutely  him  of  the  two,  whose 
wife  should  first  depart  this  life.  It  is  impossible  to 


MISCELLANEOUS.  237 

express  with  words  the  various  agitations  of  mind  ap- 
pearing in  both  their  faces  on  this  occasion ;  vanity  at 
the  preference  given  them  over  the  rest  of  mankind ; 
affection  for  their  present  wives  ;  fear  of  losing  them  ; 
hope  (if  they  must  lose  them)  to  obtain  the  proposed 
comfort ;  jealousy  of  each  other,  in  case  both  wives 
should  die  together,  —  all  working  at  the  same  time, 
jumbled  their  features  into  inexplicable  confusion.  They 
parted,  at  length,  with  professions  and  outward  appear- 
ances of  ever-during  friendship ;  but  it  was  shrewdly 
suspected,  that  each  of  them  wished  health  and  long 
life  to  the  other's  wife  ;  and  that  however  long  either  of 
these  friends  might  like  to  live  himself,  the  other  would 
be  very  well  pleased  to  survive  him. 

It  is  remarked,  that  the  skies  have  wept  every  day  in 
Craven  Street  the  absence  of  the  Queen. 

The  public  may  be  assured,  that  this  morning  a  cer- 
tain great  person  was  asked  very  complaisantly  by  the 
mistress  of  the  household,  if  he  would  choose  to  have 
the  blade-bone  of  Saturday's  mutton,  that  had  been 
kept  for  his  dinner  to-day,  broiled  or  cold.  He  answer- 
ed gravely,  If  there  is  any  flesh  on  it,  it  may  be  broiled; 
if  not,  it  may  as  well  be  cold.  Orders  were  accordingly 
given  for  broiling  it.  But  when  it  came  to  table,  there 
was  indeed  so  very  little  flesh,  or  rather  none  at  all 
(puss  having  dined  on  it  yesterday  after  Nanny),  that, 
if  our  new  administration  had  been  as  good  economists 
as  they  would  be  thought,  the  expense  of  broiling  might 
well  have  been  saved  to  the  public,  and  carried  to  the 
sinking  fund.  It  is  assured  the  great  person  bears  all 
with  infinite  patience.  But  the  na'tion  is  astonished  at 
the  insolent  presumption,  that  dares  treat  so  much 
mildness  in  so  cruel  a  manner. 

A  terrible  accident  had  like  to  have  happened  this 
afternoon  at  tea.  The  boiler  was  set  too  near  the  end 


238  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGb. 

of  the  little  square  table.  The  first  ministress  was 
sitting  at  one  end  of  the  table  to  administer  the  tea ; 
the  great  person  was  about  to  sit  down  at  the  othei 
end,  where  the  boiler  stood.  By  a  sadden  motion,  the 
lady  gave  the  table  a  tilt.  Had  it  gone  over,  the  great 
person  must  have  been  scalded ;  perhaps  to  death. 
Various  are  the  surmises  and  observations  on  this  occa- 
sion. The  godly  say,  it  would  have  been  a  just  judg- 
ment on  him  for  preventing,  by  his  laziness,  the  family's 
going  to  church  last  Sunday.  The  opposition  do  not 
stick  to  insinuate,  that  there  was  a  design  to  scald  him, 
prevented  only  by  his  quick  catching  the  table.  The 
friends  of  the  ministry  give  out,  that  he  carelessly 
jogged  the  table  himself,  and  would  have  been  inevita- 
bly scalded,  had  not  the  ministress  saved  him.  It  is 
hard  for  the  public  to  come  at  the  truth  in  these 
cases. 

At  six  o'clock  this  afternoon,  news  came  by  the*  post, 
that  her  Majesty  arrived  safely  at  Rochester  on  Satur- 
day night.  The  bells  immediately  rang  —  for  candles 
to  illuminate  the  parlour ;  the  court  went  into  cribbage  ; 
and  the  evening  concluded  with  every  demonstration 

°f  joy- 
it  is  reported  that  all  the  principal  officers  of  state 
have  received  an  invitation  from  the  Duchess  Dowager 
of  Rochester,  to  go  down  thither  on  Saturday  next. 
But  it  is  not  yet  known  whether  the  great  affairs 
they  have  on  their  hands  will  permit  them  to  make 
this  excursion. 

We  hear,  that,  from  the  time  of  her  Majesty's  leav- 
ing Craven -Street  House  to  this  day,  no  care  is  taken 
to  file  the  newspapers ;  but  they  lie  about  in  every 
room,  in  every  window,  and  on  every  chair,  just  where 
the  Doctor  lays  them  when  he  has  read  them.  It  i? 
impossible  government  can  long  go  on  in  such  hands. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  239 

"  TO  THE  PUBLISHER  OF  THE  CRAVEN-STREET  GAZETTE. 

'•  SIR, 

"  1  make  no  doubt  of  the  truth  of  what  the  papers 
tell  us,  that  a  certain  great  person  has  been  half-starved 
on  the  blade-bone  of  a  sheep  (I  cannot  call  it  of  mutton, 
because  none  was  on  it),  by  a  set  of  the  most  careless, 
blundering,  foolish,  crafty,  and  knavish  ministers,  that 
ever  got  into  a  house,  and  pretended  to  govern  a  family 
and  provide  a  dinner.  Alas,  for  the  poor  old  England 
of  Craven  Street !  If  these  nefarious  wretches  continue 
in  power  another  week,  the  nation  will  be  ruined ;  un- 
done, totally  undone,  if  the  Queen  does  not  return,  or 
(which  is  better)  turn  them  all  out,  and  appoint  me  and 
my  friends  to  succeed  them.  I  am  a  great  admirer  oi 
your  useful  and  impartial  paper,  and  therefore  request 
you  will  insert  this,  without  fail,  from 

"  Your  humble  servant, 

"  INDIGNATION." 


"  TO    THE    PUBLISHER    OF    THE    CRAVEN-STREET    GA7.FTTF 

"  SIR, 

•'  Your  correspondent,  '  Indignation^  has  made  a 
fine  story  in  your  paper  against  our  excellent  Craven 
Street  ministry,  as  if  they  meant  to  starve  his  Highness, 
giving  him  only  a  bare  blade-bone  for  his  dinner,  while 
they  riot  upon  roast  venison.  The  wickedness  of  wri- 
ters in  this  age  is  truly  amazing.  I  believe  we  never 
had,  since  the  foundation  of  our  state,  a  more  faithful, 
upright,  worthy,  careful,  considerate,  incorrupt,  discreet, 
wise,  prudent,  and  beneficent  ministry,  than  the  present. 
But  if  even  the  angel  Gabriel  would  condescend  to 
be  our  minister,  and  provide  our  dinners,  he  could 
scarcely  escape  newspaper  defamation  from  a  gang  of 


240  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

hungry,  ever-restless,  discontented,  and  malicious  scrib- 
blers. 

"  It  is,  Sir,  a  piece  of  justice  you  owe  our  righteous 
administration  to  undeceive  the  public  on  this  occasion, 
by  assuring  them  of  the  fact,  which  is,  that  there  was 
provided,  and  actually  smoking  on  the  table  under  his 
royal  nose  at  the  same  instant,  as  fine  a  piece  of  ribs  of 
beef  roasted,  as  ever  knife  was  put  into  ;  with  potatoes, 
horse-radish,  pickled  walnuts,  &,c. ;  which  beef  his 
Highness  might  have  eaten  of,  if  he  had  pleased  so  to 
do ;  and  which  he  forbore  to  do,  merely  from  a  whimsical 
opinion  (with  respect  be  it  spoken),  that  beef  doth  not 
with  him  perspire  well.  This  is  the  truth  ;  and,  if  your 
boasted  impartiality  is  real,  you  will  not  hesitate  a  mo- 
ment to  insert  this  letter  in  your  very  next  paper. 

"  I  am,  though  a  little  angry  with  you  at  present, 
"  Yours,  as  you  behave, 

"A  HATER  OF  SCANDAL." 

Junius  and  Cinna  came  to  hand  too  late  for  this  days 
paper,  but  shall  have  place  in  our  next. 

MARRIAGES.  None  since  our  last ;  but  puss  begins 
to  go  a  courting. 

DEATHS.  In  the  back  closet  and  elsewhere,  many 
poor  mice. 

STOCKS.  Biscuit  —  very  low.  Buckwheat  and  In- 
dian meal  —  both  sour.  Tea  lowering  daily  —  in  the 
canister. 

Wednesday,  September  26th.  Postscript.  —  Those 
in  the  secret  of  affairs  do  not  scruple  to  assert  roundly, 
that  the  present  first  ministress  proves  very  notable, 
having  this  day  been  at  market,  bought  excellent  mut- 
ton-choDs,  and  apples  four  a  penny,  made  a  very  fine 
apple-pie  with  her  own  hands,  and  mended  two  pair  of 
breeches. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  241 


A   LETTER   FROM   CHINA. 


THIS  jeu  (P  esprit  was  first  published  in  The  Repository  for 
May,  1788.  A  correspondent,  who  was  for  several  years  person- 
ally and  intimately  acquainted  with  Dr.  Franklin,  writes  to  me  ; 
"  He  was  very  fond  of  reading  about  China,  and  told  me,  that 
if  he  were  a  young  man  he  should  like  to  go  to  China."  In  the 
form  of  a  pretended  narrative  of  a  sailor,  he  has  embodied  in  the 
following  letter  some  of  his  knowledge  derived  from  books,  with 
fanciful  descriptions  of  his  own.  In  a  few  passages  his  peculiar 
manner  of  thought  and  style  is  very  apparent.  —  EDITOR. 


Lisbon,  May  5,  1784. 

SIR, 

AGREEABLE  to  your  desire,  I  have  examined  the 
sailor  more  particularly,  and  shall  now  give  you  the 
circumstances  of  his  story,  with  all  the  observations 
he  made  in  the  country,  concerning  which  you  are 
so  curious.  He  appears  a  more  intelligent  fellow  than 
seamen  in  general.  He  says  that  he  belonged  to  the 
Resolution,  an  English  ship,  one  of  those  that  made 
the  last  voyage  with  Captain  Cook.  That  on  their 
return,  being  at  Macao,  he  and  a  comrade  of  his  were 
over-persuaded  by  a  Portuguese  captain,  who  spoke 
English  and  Chinese,  to  desert,  in  order  to  go  with 
him  in  a  brigantine  to  the  northwestern  coast  of 
America,  to  purchase  sea-beaver  skins  from  the  savages, 
by  which  they  hoped  to  make  fortunes.  That  accord- 
ingly they  took  a  boat  belonging  to  the  ship,  got  ashore 
in  the  night,  turned  the  boat  adrift,  and  were  hid  by 
the  Portuguese  captain  till  the  Resolution  was  gone. 
That  this  was  in  January,  1780,  and  that  in  April 
following  they  sailed  from  Macao,  intending  to  go  first 
to  a  place  he  calls  Nooky-Bay,  in  latitude  50.  That 

VOL.  u.  16 


242  FRANKLIN'b    WRITINGS. 

they  had  twenty-five  men,  with  eight  guns  ar.d  small 
arms  for  their  defence,  and  a  quantity  of  iron  ware, 
cutlery,  with  European  and  Chinese  toys,  for  trade. 

That  about  the  beginning  of  May,  in  a  dark  night, 
the  captain  being  sick  in  his  cabin,  they  were  surprised 
and  suddenly  boarded  by  two  boats  full  of  armed  men, 
to  the  number  of  forty,  who  took  possession  of  the 
brig,  no  resistance  being  made.  That  these  strangers 
altered  her  course,  and  stood,  as  he  saw  by  the  com- 
pass, to  the  northwest ;  that  the  next  day  the  captain 
understood  by  a  Chinese  among  them,  that  they  were 
Curry  *  Ladrones,  or  pirates ;  that  they  had  been  cruis- 
ing on  the  coast  of  China,  and  had  lost  their  vessel 
on  a  reef  the  night  before;  and  it  was  explained  to 
the  captain,  that  if  he  and  his  people  would  work  the 
ship,  and  fight  upon  occasion,  they  should  be  well 
used,  and  have  a  share  of  plunder,  or  otherwise  be 
thrown  overboard.  That  all  consented,  and  three  days 
after  they  saw  land,  and  coasted  it  northward;  that 
they  took  two  Chinese  junks,  who  were  sent  away 
steering  northeast,  eight  men  being  put  into  each,  and 
some  of  the  Chinese  taken  out.  That  the  brig  went 
on  to  the  northward  for  four  days  after,  without  taking 
any  thing ;  but  running  too  near  the  coast  in  chase  of 
another  Chinese,  they  stuck  fast  on  a  shoal  in  a  falling 
tide ;  that  they  hoped  to  get  off  by  the  night  flood,  but 
were  mistaken,  and  the  next  morning  were  surrounded 
by  a  great  many  armed  boats  and  vessels,  which  the 
chased  vessel,  which  got  in,  had  probably  occasioned 
to  come  out  against  them.  That  at  first  they  beat  off 
those  vessels,  but,  reinforcements  coming,  they  saw  it 
impossible  to  escape,  and  submitted,  and  were  all 
brought  on  shore  and  committed  to  prison. 

*  Perhaps  Corea. 


MISCELLANEOUS.  243 

That  a  few  days  after  they  were  taken  out  and 
examined,  and,  the  Portuguese  captain  making  it  ap- 
pear that  he  and  his  people  were  prisoners  to  the 
Ladrones,  they  were  recommitted,  and  the  Ladrones 
all  beheaded.  That  the  brig,  being  got  off,  was,  after 
some  time,  as  he  understood,  by  an  order  from  court, 
restored  to  the  Portuguese  captain,  who  went  away 
in  her  with  all  his  people,  except  this  relator  and  a 
Portuguese  lad,  who,  being  both  ill  of  the  flux,  and 
likely  to  die,  were  left  behind  in  prison.  What  became 
of  the  brig  afterwards,  he  never  heard.  That  they 
were  well  attended  in  their  sickness,  and  soon  re- 
covered, but  were  not  set  at  liberty.  That  the  prison 
was  a  very  clean,  airy  place,  consisting  of  several  courts 
and  ranges  of  building,  the  whole  securely  walled  and 
guarded,  and  governed  with  great  order.  That  every 
body  was  obliged  to  work ;  but  his  work  was  not  hard, 
it  was  weaving  rushes  upon  hoops  for  the  bottom  of 
chairs,  and  they  had  some  small  pay  for  them,  which, 
added  to  the  prison  allowance  of  rice  and  chong,  was 
more  than  a  sufficiency ;  and  he  thinks  there  are  no  such 
comfortable  prisons  in  England,  at  least  among  those 
he  had  been  acquainted  with.  That  he  applied  him- 
self to  learn  the  Chinese  language,  and  succeeded  so 
far  at  last  as  to  understand  and  make  himself  under- 
stood in  common  matters.  That  some  of  the  most 
orderly  prisoners  were  allowed  to  assist  the  neighbour- 
ing country  people  in  time  of  harvest,  under  the  care 
of  overseers.  That  he  and  his  companion  were  from 
time  to  time  made  to  expect  that  orders  would  come 
from  court  for  their  release;  but  he  supposes  they 
were  quite  forgotten.  They  had  written  frequently  to 
the  Popish  missionaries  at  Pekin,  requesting  their  so- 
licitations, but  received  no  answer;  and  perhaps  the 
prison -keeper,  who  had  a  profit  on  their  labor,  never 
sent  their  letters. 


244  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

That  after  more  than  a  year's  confinement,  being 
in  the  country  at  a  harvest,  he  accidentally  cut  his 
foot  very  badly,  and  was  left  behind  at  a  farmer's  house 
to  be  cured ;  the  farmer  undertaking  to  return  him  to 
prison  when  recovered.  That  he  got  into  favor  in  the 
family ;  that  he  taught  the  farmer's  wife  to  make  soap, 
which  he  understood,  it  being  his  father's  trade.  That 
he  had  himself  been  apprentice  to  a  shoemaker  before 
he  took  to  the  sea;  and,  finding  some  leather  in  the 
house,  he  made  himself,  with  such  tools  as  he  could 
get  or  make,  a  large  shoe  for  his  lame  foot.  That  the 
farmer  admired  the  shoe  much  above  the  Chinese 
shoes,  and  requested  a  pair  for  himself.  That  he  ac- 
cordingly made  shoes  for  the  farmer,  his  wife,  two  sons, 
and  a  daughter.  That  he  was  obliged  first  to  make 
the  lasts  for  all  of  them ;  and  that  it  is  not  true  that 
the  feet  of  Chinese  women  are  less  than  those  of 
English  women.  That,  these  shoes  being  admired, 
many  inhabitants  of  the  neighbouring  village  desired 
to  have  of  them ;  so  he  was  kept  constantly  at  work, 
the  farmer  finding  the  leather,  selling  the  shoes,  and 
allowing  him  some  share  of  the  profit,  by  which  he 
got  about  an  ounce  of  silver  per  week,  all  money 
being  weighed  there.  That  the  Chinese  tan  their 
leather  with  oaken  chips,  saw-dust,  and  shavings,  which 
are  saved  by  the  carpenters  for  the  farmers,  who  boil 
them,  and  steep  their  hides  in  the  warm  liquor,  so  that 
it  is  sooner  fit  for  use.  That  the  farmer's  wife  began 
to  get  money  by  selling  soap,  and  they  proposed  to 
obtain  his  liberty,  and  keep  him  in  the  family,  by 
giving  him  their  daughter,  when  a  little  older,  for  a 
wife,  with  a  piece  of  land ;  and  he  believes  they  did 
prevail  with  the  jailor,  by  presents,  to  connive  at  his 
stav,  on  pretence  of  his  lameness. 

tie  liked  their  way  of  living,  except  their  sometimes 


MISCELLANEOUS.  245 

eating  dog's  flesh.  Their  pork  was  excellent ;  the  rice, 
dressed  various  ways,  all  very  good,  and  the  chong 
he  grew  fond  of,  and  learnt  to  make  it.  They  put 
kidney  beans  in  soak  for  twenty-four  hours,  then  grind 
them  in  a  hand-mill,  pouring  in  water  from  time  to 
time  to  wash  the  meal  from  between  the  stones,  which 
falls  into  a  tub  covered  with  a  coarse  cloth  that  lets 
the  meal  and  water  pass  through,  retaining  only  the 
skins  of  the  beans ;  that  a  very  small  quantity  of  alum, 
or  some  sort  of  salt,  put  into  it,  -makes  the  meal  settle 
to  the  bottom,  when  they  pour  off  the  water.  That 
it  is  eaten  various  ways,  by  all  sorts  of  people,  with 
milk,  with  meat,  as  thickening  in  broth,  &,c.  That 
they  used  also  to  put  a  little  alum  in  their  river  water 
when  foul,  to  clear  it  for  use,  and  by  that  means  made 
it  as  clear  as  rock  water,  the  dirt  all  settling.  Their 
house  was  near  a  great  river,  but  he  does  not  re- 
member its  name.  That  he  lived  in  this  family  about 
a  year,  but  did  not  get  the  daughter,  her  grandfather 
refusing  his  consent  to  her  marriage  with  a  stranger. 

That  they  have  a  sort  of  religion,  with  priests  and 
churches,  but  do  not  keep  Sunday,  nor  go  to  church, 
being  very  heathenish.  That  in  every  house  there  is  a 
little  idol,  to  which  they  give  thanks,  make  presents, 
and  show  respect  in  harvest  time,  but  very  little  at 
other  times ;  and,  inquiring  of  his  master  wrhy  they  did 
not  go  to  church  to  pray,  as  we  do  in  Europe,  he 
was  answered,  they  paid  the  priests  to  pray  for  them, 
that  they  might  stay  at  home  and  mind  their  business ; 
and  that  it  would  be  a  folly  to  pay  others  for  praying, 
and  then  go  and  do  the  praying  themselves ;  and  that 
the  more  work  they  did  while  the  priests  prayed,  the 
better  able  they  were  to  pay  them  well  for  praying. 

That  they  have  horses,  but  not  many;  the  breed 
small,  but  strong;  kept  chiefly  for  war,  and  not  used 


246  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

in  labor,  nor  to  draw  carriages.  That  oxen  are  used ; 
but  the  chief  of  their  labor  is  done  by  men,  not  only 
in  the  fields,  but  on  the  roads,  travellers  being  carried 
from  town  to  town  in  bamboo  chairs,  by  hired  chair- 
men, throughout  the  country;  and  goods  also,  either 
hanging  on  poles  between  two,  and  sometimes  four 
men,  or  in  wheel-barrows ;  they  having  no  coaches, 
carts,  or  waggons,  and  the  roads  being  paved  with  flat 
stones. 

They  say  that  their  great  father  (so  they  call  the 
emperor)  forbids  the  keeping  of  horses,  because  he 
had  rather  have  his  country  filled  with  his  children 
than  with  brutes;  and  one  horse  requires  as  much 
ground  to  produce  him  food,  as  would  feed  six  men ; 
yet  some  great  people  obtain  leave  to  keep  one  horse 
for  pleasure.  That  the  master,  having  a  farm  left  to 
him  by  a  deceased  relation,  in  a  distant  part  of  the 
country,  sold  the  land  he  lived  on,  and  went  with  the 
whole  family  to  take  possession,  and  live  on  the  other. 
That  they  embarked  in  one  of  the  boats  that  carry  sea 
fish  into  the  heart  of  the  empire,  which  are  kept  fresh 
even  in  hot  weather,  by  being  packed  in  great  hampers 
with  layers  of  ice  and  straw,  and  repacked  every  two 
or  three  days  with  fresh  ice,  taken  at  ice-houses  on 
the  way.  That  they  had  been  ten  days  on  their  voy- 
age, when  they  arrived  at  the  new  farm,  going  up 
always  against  the  stream.  That  the  owner  of  the 
boat,  finding  him  handy  and  strong  in  rowing  and 
working  her,  and  one  of  the  hands  falling  sick,  per- 
suaded him  to  go  fifteen  days  farther,  promising  him 
great  pay,  and  to  bring  him  back  to  the  family.  But 
that,  having  unloaded  the  fish,  the  Chinese  went  off 
with  his  boat  in  the  night,  leaving  him  behind,  without 
paying  him.  That  there  is  a  great  deal  of  cheating  in 
China,  and  no  remedy.  That  stealing,  robbing,  arid 


MISCELLANEOUS.  247 

house-breaking  are  punished  severely ;  but  cheating  is 
free  there  in  every  thing,  as  cheating  in  horses  is  among 
our  gentlemen  in  England. 

That,  meeting  at  that  place  with  a  boat  bound  to- 
wards Canton  in  a  canal,  he  thought  it  might  be  a 
means  of  escaping  out  of  that  country,  if  he  went  in 
her;  so  he  shipped  himself  to  work  for  his  passage, 
though  it  was  with  regret  he  left  for  ever  the  kind 
family  he  had  so  long  lived  with.  That  after  twenty- 
five  days'  voyage  on  the  canal,  the  boat  stopping  at 
a  little  town,  he  went  ashore,  and  walked  about  to 
look  at  it,  and  buy  some  tobacco;  and  in  returning 
he  was  stopped,  taken  up,  examined,  and  sent  away, 
under  a  guard,  across  the  country  to  a  mandarin,  dis- 
tant two  days'  journey.  That  here  he  found  the  lingo 
somewhat  different,  and  could  not  so  well  make  himself 
understood ;  that  he  was  kept  a  month  in  prison  before 
the  mandarin  had  leisure  to  examine  him.  That,  having 
given  a  true  account  of  himself,  as  well  as  he  could, 
the  mandarin  set  him  at  liberty,  but  advised  him  to 
wait  the  departure  of  some  persons  for  Canton,  with 
whom  he  proposed  to  send  him  as  a  shipwrecked 
stranger,  at  the  emperor's  expense.  That  in  the  mean 
time  he  worked  in  the  mandarin's  garden,  and  con- 
versed with  the  common  people.  He  does  not  recol- 
lect the  name  of  the  province,  but  says  it  was  one  of 
the  tea  countries ;  and  that,  besides  the  true  tea,  they 
made  a  vast  deal  of  counterfeit  tea,  which  they  packed 
up  in  boxes,  some  mixed  with  good  tea,  but  mostly 
unmixed,  and  sent  it  away  to  different  sea-ports  for 
the  supply  of  foreign  countries.  That  he  observed 
they  made  ordinary  tea  of  the  leaves  of  sweet  potatoes, 
which  they  cut  into  form  by  stamps,  and  had  the  art 
of  giving  such  color  and  taste  as  they  judged  proper. 
When  he  spoke  of  this  practice  as  a  fraud,  they  saiJ 


248  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

there  was  no  harm  in  it,  for  strangers  liked  the  false 
tea  as  well,  or  better,  than  the  true ;  and  that  it  was 
impossible  to  load  with  true  tea  all  the  ships  that  came 
for  it ;  China  could  not  furnish  such  a  quantity ;  and, 
if  the  demand  went  on  increasing  as  it  had  done  some 
years  past,  all  the  leaves  of  all  the  trees  in  the  country 
would  not  be  sufficient  to  answer  it.  This  tea  was 
sold  cheap,  as  he  understood  twenty  catty  of  it  (a  catty 
is  near  our  pound)  for  about  an  ounce  of  silver.  They 
did  not  drink  it  themselves,  but  said  it  was  not  un- 
wholesome, if  drunk  moderately. 

That  after  some  time  he  set  out  in  the  train  of  seven 
merchants  for  Canton,  with  a  passport  from  the  man- 
darin, going  partly  by  land,  but  chiefly  by  water  in 
canals.  That  they  stopt  a  week  in  a  part  of  the 
country  where  a  great  deal  of  China  ware  is  made ; 
that  many  farmers  had  little  furnaces  in  some  out-house, 
where  they  worked  at  leisure  times,  and  made,  some 
nothing  but  tea-cups,  others  nothing  but  saucers,  &c., 
which  they  sold  to  country  shopkeepers,  who  collected 
quantities  for  the  merchants.  The  ware  is  there  very 
cheap.  He  could  have  bought  a  dozen  pretty  cups 
and  saucers  for  as  much  silver  as  is  in  an  English 
hah0- crown. 

He  says  it  is  not  true,  that  they  have  large  wheel 
carriages  in  China,  driven  by  the  wind ;  at  least  he 
never  saw  or  heard  of  any  such ;  but  that  the  wheel- 
barrow porters  indeed,  when  passing  some  great  open 
countries,  do  sometimes,  if  the  wind  is  fair,  spread  a 
thin  cotton  sail,  supported  by  a  light  bamboo  mast, 
which  they  stick  up  on  their  wheelbarrows,  and  it 
helps  them  along.  That  he  once  saw  a  fleet  of  near 
three  hundred  sail  of  those  wheelbarrows,  each  with 
a  double  wheel.  That,  when  he  arrived  at  Canton,  he 
did  not  make  himself  known  to  the  English  there,  but 


MISCELLANEOUS.  249 

got  down  as  soon  as  he  could  to  Macao,  hoping  to 
meet  with  his  Portuguese  captain ;  but  he  had  never 
returned.  That  he  worked  there  in  rigging  of  vessels, 
till  he  had  an  opportunity  of  coming  home  to  Europe  ; 
and,  hearing  on  his  arrival  here,  from  an  old  comrade 
in  the  packet,  that  his  sweetheart  is  married,  and  that 
the  Resolution  and  Endeavour  got  home,  he  shall  de- 
cline going  to  England  yet  a  while,  fearing  he  may 
be  punished  for  carrying  off  the  boat ;  therefore  he  has 
shipped  himself,  as  I  wrote  you  before,  on  a  voyage 
to  America.  He  was  between  three  and  four  years  in 
China.  This  is  the  substance  of  what  I  got  from 
him,  and  nearly  as  he  related  it.  He  gave  me  the 
names  of  some  places,  but  I  found  them  hard  to  re- 
member, and  cannot  recollect  them. 


ESSAYS 


GENERAL  POLITICS,  COMMERCE, 


AND 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY. 


A 

MODEST    INQUIRY 

INTO    THE 

.NATURE    AND    NECESSITY 

OF    A 

PAPER    CURRENCY. 

Quid  asper 

Utile  nummus  habet ;   patrise   carisque  propinquis 
Quantum  elargiri  deceat. 

PERSIUS. 

FIRST  PRINTED  AT  PHILADELPHIA  Ifi  THE  YEAR  1729. 


This  is  one  of  the  author's  earliest  compositions,  it  having  been  written 
at  the  beginning  of  his  twenty-third  year.  It  is  indeed  the  first  tract  of 
a  political  nature,  which  is  known  to  have  come  from  his  pen,  and  al- 
though it  was  published  anonymously,  yet  he  afterwards  avowed  the 
•luthorship  in  his  autobiography,  where  he  thus  speaks. 

"  There  was  a  cry  among  the  people  for  more  paper  money  ;  only 
fifteen  thousand  pounds  being  extant  in  the  province,  and  that  soon  to  be 
sunk.  The  wealthy  inhabitants  opposed  any  addition  ;  being  against  all 
paper  currency,  from  the  apprehension  that  it  would  depreciate  as  it  had 
done  in  New  England,  to  the  injury  of  all  creditors.  We  had  discussed 
this  point  in  our  junto,  where  I  was  on  the  side  of  an  addition ;  being 
persuaded  that  the  first  small  sum  struck  in  1723  had  done  much 
good  by  increasing  the  trade,  employment,  and  number  of  inhabitants  in 
the  province  ;  since  I  now  saw  all  the  old  houses  inhabited,  and  many 
new  ones  building;  whereas  I  remembered  well  when  I  first  walked 
about  the  streets  of  Philadelphia,  (eating  my  roll,)  I  saw  many  of  the 
houses  in  Walnut  Street,  between  Second  and  Front  Streets,  with  bills  on 
their  doors  '  To  be  let ' ;  and  many  likewise  in  Chestnut  Street  and  other 
streets  ;  which  made  me  think  the  inhabitants  of  the  city  were  one  after 
another  deserting  it.  Our  debates  possessed  me  so  fully  on  the  subject, 


254  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

that  I  wrote  and  printed  an  anonymous  pamphlet  on  it,  entitled,  The 
Nature  and  Necessity  of  a  Paper  Currency.  It  was  well  received  by 
the  common  people  in  general ;  but  the  rich  men  disliked  it,  for  it  in- 
creased and  strengthened  the  clamor  for  more  money  ;  and,  they  happen- 
ing to  have  no  writers  among  them  that  were  able  to  answer  it,  thei 
opposition  slackened,  and  the  point  was  carried  by  a  majority  in  the 
House.  My  friends  there,  who  considered  I  had  been  of  some  service, 
thought  fit  to  reward  me,  by  employing  me  in  printing  the  money  ;  a  very 
profitable  job,  and  a  great  help  to  me.  This  was  another  advantage 
gained  by  my  being  able  to  write. 

"  The  utility  of  this  currency  became,  by  time  and  experience,  so  evi- 
dent, that  the  principles  upon  which  it  was  founded  were  ne'"er  after- 
wards much  disputed  ;  so  that  it  grew  soon  to  fifty-five  thousand  pounds  ; 
and  in  1739  to  eighty  thousand  pounds,  trade,  building,  and  inhabitants 
all  the  wliile  increasing.  Though  I  now  think  there  are  limits  beyond 
which  the  quantity  may  be  hurtful " 

This  Inquiry  bears  the  marks  of  the  author's  characteristic  acuteness 
and  sagacity,  but  contains  some  of  the  fallacies,  which  were  then  com- 
mon in  the  colonies  on  the  subject  of  paper  money.  Occasionally  the 
arguments  are  addressed  more  to  the  popular  prejudices,  than  to  the  good 
sense  and  intelligence  of  readers,  though  there  is  no  doubt  that  Franklin 
was  sincere  in  supporting-  the  doctrines  of  the  advocates  of  the  paper- 
money  system.  He  subsequently  expressed  the  same  opinions  in  his 
examination  before  the  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons  in  176ft. 
This  essay  is  curious,  as  showing  his  early  impressions,  and  the  rudiments 
of  his  thinking  upon  subjects,  which  occupied  his  mind  and  employed  his 
pen,  to  a  very  considerable  extent,  in  the  mature  period  of  his  life.  — 
EDITOR. 


THERE  is  no  science,  the  study  of  which  is  more 
useful  and  commendable  than  the  knowledge  of  the  true 
interest  of  one's  country ;  and  perhaps  there  is  no  kind 
of  learning  more  abstruse  and  intricate,  more  difficult  to 
acquire  in  any  degree  of  perfection  than  this,  and  there- 
fore none  more  generally  neglected.  Hence  it  is,  that 
we  every  day  find  men  in  conversation  contending 
warmly  on  some  point  in  politics,  which,  although  ii 
may  nearly  concern  them  both,  neither  of  them  under- 
stands any  more  than  they  do  each  other. 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  255 

Thus  much  by  way  of  apology  for  this  present  In- 
quiry into  the  Nature  and  Necessity  of  a  Paper  Cur- 
rency. And  if  any  thing  I  shall  say  may  be  a  means 
of  fixing  a  subject,  that  is  now  the  chief  concern  of  my 
countrymen,  in  a  clearer  light,  I  shall  have  the  satisfac- 
tion of  thinking  my  time  and  pains  well  employed. 

To  proceed,  then, 

There  is  a  certain  proportionate  quantity  of  money 
requisite  to  carry  on  the  trade  of  a  country  freely  and 
currently ;  more  than  which  would  be  of  no  advantage 
in  trade,  and  less,  if  much  less,  exceedingly  detrimental 
to  it. 

This  leads  us  to  the  following  general  considerations. 

First.  Jl  great  want  of  money,  in  any  trading  coun- 
try, occasions  interest  to  be  at  a  very  high  rate.  And 
here  it  may  be  observed,  that  it  is  impossible  by  any 
laws  to  restrain  men  from  giving  and  receiving  exorbi- 
tant interest,  where  money  is  suitably  scarce.  For  he 
that  wants  money  will  find  out  ways  to  give  ten  per- 
cent, when  he  cannot  have  it  for  less,  although  the  law 
forbids  to  take  more  than  six  per  cent.  Now  the  inter- 
est of  money  being  high  is  prejudicial  to  a  country  j&v- 
eral  ways.  It  makes  land  bear  a  low  price,  because 
few  men  will  lay  out  their  money  in  land,  when  they 
can  make  a  much  greater  profit  by  lending  it  out  upon 
interest.  And  much  less  will  men  be  inclined  to  ven- 
ture their  money  at  sea,  when  they  can,  without  risk 
or  hazard,  have  a  great  and  certain  profit  by  keeping  it 
at  home;  thus  trade  is  discouraged.  .And  if  in  two 
neighbouring  countries  the  traders  of  one,  by  reason  of  a 
greater  plenty  of  money,  can  borrow  it  to  trade  with  at 
a  lower  rate  than  the  traders  of  the  other,  they  will 
infallibly  have  the  advantage,  and  get  the  greatest  part 
of  that  trade  into  their  own  hands ;  for  he  that  trades 
with  money  he  hath  borrowed  at  eight  or  ten  per  cent, 


•256  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

cannot  hold  market  with  him  that  borrows  his  money  at 
six  or  four.  On  the  contrary,  a  plentiful  currency  will 
occasion  interest  to  be  low  ;  and  this  will  be  an  induce- 
ment to  many  to  lay  out  their  money  in  lands,  rather 
than  put  it  out  to  use,  by  which  means  land  will  begin 
to  rise  in  value  and  bear  a  better  price.  And  at  the 
same  time  it  will  tend  to  enliven  trade  exceedingly, 
because  people  will  find  more  profit  in  employing  their 
money  that  way  than  in  usury ;  and  many  that  under- 
stand business  very  well,  but  have  not  a  stock  sufficient 
of  their  own,  will  be  encouraged  to  borrow  money  to 
trade  with,  when  they  can  have  it  at  a  moderate  in- 
terest. 

Secondly.  Want  of  money  in  a  country  reduces  the 
price  of  t/iat  part  of  its  produce  which  is  used  in  trade  ; 
because,  trade  being  discouraged  by  it  as  above,  there  is 
a  much  less  demand  for  that  produce.  And  this  is 
another  reason  why  land  in  such  a  case  will  be  low, 
especially  where  the  staple  commodity  of  the  country  is 
the  immediate  produce  of  the  land ;  because,  that  pro- 
duce being  low,  fewer  people  find  an  advantage  in  hus- 
bandry, or  the  improvement  of  land.  On  the  contrary, 
a  plentiful  currency  will  occasion  the  trading  produce  to 
bear  a  good  price  ;  because,  trade  being  encouraged  and 
advanced  by  it,  there  will  be  a  much  greater  demand 
for  that  produce ;  *  which  will  be  a  great  encouragement 

*  Some  obscurity  is  thrown  over  this  paragraph  by  confounding  low 
price  with  want  of  demand,  and  high  price  with  briskness  of  demand, 
things  which  often  go  together,  and  which  are  now,  as  formerly,  often 
confounded  with  each  other,  though  they  are  by  no  means  identical, 
one  being  the  cause,  the  other  the  effect,  respectively ;  for  the  increase 
of  demand,  out  of  proportion  to  that  of  the  supply,  increases  price,  and 
the  reduction  of  demand,  out  of  proportion  to  that  of  supply,  reduces 
price.  This  inaccuracy,  combined  with  another,  which  we  shall  soon  meet 
with  in  this  essay,  namely,  the  confounding  of  circulating  medium,  or 
money,  with  capital  generally ;  and  also  another  nearly  allied  to  it, 
namely,  the  confounding  of  the  amount  of  capital  ready  to  be  loaned, 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  257 

of  husbandry  and  tillage,  and  consequently  make  land 
more  valuable,  for  that  many  people  would  apply  them- 
selves to  husbandry,  who  probably  might  otherwise 
have  sought  some  more  profitable  employment. 

As  we  have  already  experienced  how  much  the  in- 
crease of  our  currency,  by  what  paper  money  has  been 
made,  has  encouraged  our  trade,  particularly  to  in- 
stance only  in  one  article,  ship-building,  it  may  not  be 
amiss  to  observe  under  this  head,  what  a  great  advan- 
tage it  must  be  to  us  as  a  trading  country,  that  has 
workmen  and  all  the  materials  proper  for  that  business 
within  itself,  to  have  ship-building  as  much  as  possible 
advanced ;  for  every  ship,  that  is  built  here  for  the  Eng- 
lish merchants,  gains  the  province  her  clear  value  in 
gold  and  silver,  which  must  otherwise  have  been  sent 
home  for  returns  in  her  stead  ;  and  likewise  every  ship, 
built  in  and  belonging  to  the  province,  not  only  saves 
the  province  her  first  cost,  but  all  the  freight,  wages,  and 
provisions  she  ever  makes  or  requires  as  long  as  she 
lasts  ;  provided  care  is  taken  to  make  this  her  pay-port, 
and  that  she  always  takes  provisions  with  her  for  the 
whole  voyage,  which  may  easily  be  done.  And  how 
considerable  an  article  this  is  yearly  in  our  favor,  every 
one,  the  least  acquainted  with  mercantile  affairs,  must 
needs  be  sensible ;  for,  if  we  could  not  build  ourselves, 
we  must  either  purchase  so  many  vessels  as  we  want 
from  other  countries,  or  else  hire  them  to  carry  our 

with  that  of  the  circulating  medium,  led  to  many  of  the  fallacies,  which 
were  prevalent  in  Franklin's  time  in  subjects  of  political  economy,  and 
which  have,  to  this  day,  not  wholly  disappeared  from  similar  specula- 
tions. The  propositions  really  in  question  in  this  part  of  the  essay  are, 
that  briskness  of  trade  promotes  production  and  consequently  wealth,  and 
that  plenty,  or  rather  a  sufficiency,  of  circulating  medium  promotes  trado, 
and  a  want  of  it,  on  the  other  hand,  obstructs  trade.  These  propositions 
are  sufficiently  plain,  and  are  indisputable,  and  they  constitute  the  au- 
thor's premises  or  postulates,  but  they  will  not  be  found  to  lead  to  all  hi« 
conclusions.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 

VOL.    II.  17 


258  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

produce  to  market,  which  would  be  more  expensive 
than  purchasing,  and  on  many  other  accounts  exceed- 
ingly to  our  loss.  Now  as  trade  in  general  will  decline 
where  there  is  not  a  plentiful  currency,  so  "ship-building 
must  certainly  of  consequence  decline  where  trade  is 
declining. 

Thirdly.  Want  of  money  in  a  counti*y  discoura- 
ges laboring  and  handicraftsmen  (who  are  the  chief 
strength  and  support  of  a  people)  from  coming  to  set- 
tle in  it,  and  induces  many  that  were  settled  to  leave 
the  country,  and  seek  entertainment  and  employment 
in  other  places,  where  they  can  be  better  paid.  For 
what  can  be  more  disheartening  to  an  industrious  la- 
boring man  than  this,  that,  after  he  hath  earned  his 
bread  with  the  sweat  of  his  brows,  he  must  spend  as 
much  time,  and  have  near  as  much  fatigue  in  getting 
it,  as  he  had  to  earn  it?  Jlnd  nothing  makes  more 
bad  paymasters  than  a  general  scarcity  of  money.  And 
here  again  is  a  third  reason  for  land's  bearing  a  low 
price  in  such  a  country,  because  land  always  increas- 
es in  value  in  proportion  with  the  increase  of  the 
people  settling  on  it,  there  being  so  many  more  buy- 
ers ;  and  its  value  will  infallibly  be  diminished,  if  the 
number  of  its  inhabitants  diminish.  On  the  contrary, 
a  plentiful  currency  will  encourage  great  numbers  of 
laboring  and  handicraftsmen  to  come  and  settle  in  the 
country,  by  the  same  reason  that  a  want  of  it  will 
discourage  and  drive  them  out*  Now  the  more  in- 

*  This  proposition  is  true,  and  yet  it  tends  to  leave  a  wrong  impression 
on  the  mind  ;  for  money,  like  ships,  is  an  instrument  of  trade,  and  like 
ploughs,  is  an  instrument  of  production,  and  the  more  facilities  for  trade 
and  production,  and  consequently  for  obtaining  wealth,  the  country  afford- 
ed, the  greater  were  the  inducements  to  emigrate  to  it  The  quality  of 
the  ships,  and  ploughs,  &c.,  is  as  important  as  the  number.  Just  so  of  the 
circulating  medium  ;  the  soundness  of  the  currency  is  quite  as  important 
HS  its  abundance.  The  error  left  upon  the  mind  by  the  above  language, 
and  it  is  a  very  common  one,  is,  that  there  is  some  predominant  and 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  259 

habitants,  the  greater  demand  for  land  (as  is  said 
above),  upon  which  it  must  necessarily  rise  in  value, 
and  bear  a  better  price.  The  same  may  be  said  ol 
the  value  of*  house-rent,  which  will  be  advanced  for 
the  same  reasons ;  and,  by  the  increase  of  trade  and 
riches,  people  will  be  enabled  to  pay  greater  rents. 
Now,  the  value  of  house-rent  rising,  and  interest  be- 
coming low,  many,  that  in  a  scarcity  of  money  prac- 
tised usury,  will  probably  be  more  inclined  to  build- 
ing ;  which  will  likewise  sensibly  enliven  business  in 
any  place ;  it  being  an  advantage  not  only  to  brick- 
makers,  bricklayers,  masons,  carpenters,  joiners,  gla- 
ziers, and  several  other  trades  immediately  employed 
by  building,  but  likewise  to  farmers,  brewers,  bakers, 
tailors,  shoemakers,  shopkeepers,  and,  in  short,  to  ev- 
ery one  that  they  lay  their  money  out  with. 

Fourthly.  Want  of  money  in  such  a  country  as  ours, 
occasions  a  greater  consumption  of  English  and  Europe- 
an goods,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  the  people,  than 
there  would  otherwise  be.  Because  merchants  and  tra- 
ders, by  whom  abundance  of  artificers  and  laboring 
men  are  employed,  finding  their  other  affairs  require 
what  money  they  can  get  into  their  hands,  oblige 
those  who  work  for  them  to  take  one  half  or  perhaps 
two-thirds  goods  in  pay.  By  this  means  a  greater 
quantity  of  goods  are  disposed  of,  and  to  a  greater 
value ;  because  working-men  and  their  families  are 
thereby  induced  to  be  more  profuse  and  extravagant 
in  fine  apparel  and  the  like,  than  they  would  be  if 
they  were  obliged  to  pay  ready  money  for  such  things 
after  they  had  earned  and  received  it,  or  if  such  goods 

almost  magical  effect  belonging  to  a  circulating  medium,  as  distinguished 
from  other  instruments  and  facilities  of  production  and  trade,  and  thoir 
result,  wealth  ;  whereas  the  quantity  of  even  a  sound  currency  is  not 
decisive  of  the  prosperity  of  a  country,  as  might  be  seen  in  Franklin'* 
lime  in  some  of  the  South  American  provinces.  —  VV.  PHILLIPS. 


260  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

were  not  imposed  upon  them,  of  which  they  can  make 
no  other  use.  For  such  people  cannot  send  the  goods 
they  are  paid  with  to  a  foreign  market,  without  losing 
considerably  by  having  them  sold  for  less  than  they 
stand  them  in  here ;  neither  can  they  easily  dispose  of 
them  at  home,  because  their  neighbours  are  generally 
supplied  iii  the  same  manner.  But  how  unreasonable 
would  it  be,  if  some  of  those  very  men  who  have 
been  a  means  of  thus  forcing  people  into  unnecessary 
expense,  should  be  the  first  and  most  earnest  in  ac- 
cusing them  of  pride  and  prodigality.  Now,  though 
this  extraordinary  consumption  of  foreign  commodities 
may  be  a  profit  to  particular  men,  yet  the  country  in 
general  grows  poorer  by  it  apace.  On  the  contrary,  as 
a  plentiful  currency  will  occasion  a  less  consumption  of 
European  goods,  in  proportion  to  the  number  of  the  peo- 
ple, so  it  will  be  a  means  of  making  the  balance  of  our 
trade  more  equal  than  it  now  is,  if  it  does  not  give  it 
in  our  favor ;  because  our  own  produce  will  be  en- 
couraged at  the  same  time.  And  it  is  to  be  observ- 
ed, that,  though  less  foreign  commodities  are  consumed 
in  proportion  to  the  number  of  people,  yet  this  will 
be  no  disadvantage  to  the  merchant,  because  the  num- 
ber of  people  increasing,  will  occasion  an  increasing 
demand  of  more  foreign  goods  in  the  whole. 

Thus  we  have  seen  some  of  the  many  heavy  dis- 
advantages a  country  (especially  such  a  country  as 
ours)  must  labor  under,  when  it  has  not  a  sufficient 
stock  of  running  cash  to  manage  its  trade  currently. 
And  we  have  likewise  seen  some  of  the  advantages 
which  accrue  from  having  money  sufficient,  or  a  plen- 
tiful currency. 

The  foregoing  paragraphs  being  well  considered,  we 
shall  naturally  be  led  to  draw  the  following  conclusions 
with  regard  to  what  persons  will  probably  be  for  or 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  261 

against  emitting  a  large  additional    sum  of  ptper  bills 
in  this  province. 

1.  Since    men  will  always  be  powerfully  influenced 
in  their  opinions  and  actions  by  what   appears    to    be 
their  particular  interest,  therefore  all  those,  who,  want- 
ing courage  to  venture  in  trade,  now  practise  lending 
money  on  security  for   exorbitant  interest,  which,  in  a 
scarcity  of  money    will   be    done,  notwithstanding  the 
law,  I  say  all  such   will    probably    be    against  a  large 
addition    to   our   present  stock  of  paper  money ;   be- 
cause a  plentiful  currency  will  lower  interest,  and  make 
it  common  to  lend  on  less  security. 

2.  All  those  who  are    possessors    of  large  sums  of 
money,  and  are  disposed    to    purchase  land,  which  is 
attended  with  a  great  and  sure  advantage  in  a  grow- 
ing country  as  this  is ;   I  say,  the  interest  of  all  such 
men  will  incline  them  to   oppose    a   large    addition  to 
our  money.      Because  their  wealth  is  now  continually 
increasing  by  the    large    interest    they    receive,  which 
will  enable    them  (if  they  can  keep  land  from  rising) 
to  purchase  more    some  time  hence  than  they  can  at 
present ;  and  in  the  mean  time  all  trade  being  discour- 
aged, not  only   those    who   borrow    of  them,  but   the 
common  people  in  general  will   be   impoverished,  and 
consequently  obliged  to  sell  more  land  for  less  money 
than  they  will  do  at  present.     And  yet,  after  such  men 
are  possessed  of  as  much  land  as  they  can  purchase, 
it  will  then  be  their  interest  to  have  money  made  plen- 
tiful, because  that  will    immediately  make  land  rise  in 
value  in  tlieir  hands.      Now  it  ought    not  to  be  won- 
dered at,  if  people  from  the  knowledge  of  a  man's  in- 
terest do  sometimes  make  a  true  guess  at  his  designs ; 
for  interest,  they  say,  ivill  not  lie. 

3.  Lawyers,  and  others  concerned  in  court  business, 
will    probably    many    of   them    be    against    a   plentiful 


262  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

currency  ;  because  people  in  that  case  will  have  less  oc- 
casion to  run  in  debt,  and  consequently  less  occasion  to 
go  to  law  and  sue  one  another  for  their  debts.  Though 
I  know  some  even  among  these  gentlemen,  that  regard 
the  public  good  before  their  own  apparent  private  in- 
terest. 

4.  All  those  who  are  any  way  dependents  on  such 
persons  as  are  above  mentioned,  whether  as  holding  of- 
fices, as  tenants,  or  as  debtors,  must  at  least  appear  to 
be  against  a  large  addition;  because,  if  they  do  not, 
they  must  sensibly  feel  their  present  interest  hurt.  And 
besides  these,  there  are,  doubtless,  many  well-meaning 
gentlemen  and  others,  who,  without  any  immediate  pri- 
vate interest  of  their  own  in  view,  are  against  making 
such  an  addition,  through  an  opinion  they  may  have  of 
the  honesty  and  sound  judgment  of  some  of  their  friends 
that  oppose  it  (perhaps  for  the  ends  aforesaid),  without 
having  given  it  any  thorough  consideration  themselves. 
And  thus  it  is  no  wonder  if  there  is  a  powerful  party  on 
that  side. 

On  the  other  hand,  those  who  are  lovers  of  trade,  and 
delight  to  see  manufactures  encouraged,  will  be  for 
having  a  large  addition  to  our  currency.  For  they  very 
well  know,  that  people  will  have  little  heart  to  advance 
money  in  trade,  when  what  they  can  get  is  scarce  suffi- 
cient to  purchase  necessaries,  and  supply  their  families 
with  provisions.  Much  less  will  they  lay  it  out  in  ad- 
vancing new  manufactures ;  nor  is  it  possible  new  man- 
ufactures should  turn  to  any  account,  where  there  is  not 
money  to  pay  the  workmen,  who  are  discouraged  by 
being  paid  in  goods,  because  it  is  a  great  disadvantage 
to  them. 

Again.  Those,  who  are  truly  for  the  proprietor's  in- 
terest (and  have  no  separate  views  of  their  own  that  are 
predominant),  will  be  heartily  for  a  large  addition 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  263 

Because,  as  I  have  shown  above,  plenty  of  money  will 
for  several  reasons  make  land  rise  in  value  exceedingly. 
And  I  appeal  to  those  immediately  concerned  for  the 
proprietor  in  the  sale  of  his  lands,  whether  land  has  not 
risen  very  much  since  the  first  emission  of  what  paper 
currency  we  now  have,  and  even  by  its  means.  Now 
we  all  know  the  proprietary  has  great  quantities  to  sell. 

And  since  a  plentiful  currency  will  be  so  great  a 
cause  of  advancing  this  province  in  trade  and  riches, 
and  increasing  the  number  of  its  people  ;  which,  though 
it  will  not  sensibly  lessen  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Brit- 
ain, will  occasion  a  much  greater  vent  and  demand  for 
their  commodities  here ;  and  allowing  that  the  crown  is 
the  more  powerful  for  its  subjects  increasing  in  wealth 
and  number,  I  cannot  think  it  the  interest  of  England  to 
oppose  us  in  making  as  great  a  sum  of  paper  money 
here,  as  we,  who  are  the  best  judges  of  our  own  neces- 
sities, find  convenient.  And  if  I  were  not  sensible  that 
the  gentlemen  of  trade  in  England,  to  whom  we  have 
already  parted  with  our  silver  and  gold,  are  misinformed 
of  our  circumstances,  and  therefore  endeavour  to  have 
our  currency  stinted  to  what  it  now  is,  I  should  think 
the  government  at  home  had  some  reasons  for  discour- 
aging and  impoverishing  this  province,  which  we  are 
not  acquainted  with. 

It  remains  now  that  we  inquire,  whether  a  large  ad- 
dition to  our  paper  currency  will  not  make  it  sink  in 
value  very  much.  And  here  it  will  be  requisite  that  we 
first  form  just  notions  of  the  nature  and  value  of  money 
in  general. 

As  Providence  has  so  ordered  it,  that  not  only  dirter- 
ent  countries,  but  even  different  parts  of  the  same  coun- 
try, have  their  peculiar  most  suitable  productions ;  and 
likewise  that  different  men  have  geniuses  adapted  to 
a  variety  of  lifFerent  arts  and  manufactures ;  therefore 


264  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

commerce,  or  the  exchange  of  one  commodity  or  manu- 
facture for  another,  is  highly  convenient  and  beneficial 
to  mankind.  As  for  instance,  A  may  be  skilful  in  the 
art  of  making  cloth,  and  B  understand  the  raising  of 
corn.  A  wants  corn,  and .  B  cloth ;  upon  which  they 
make  an  exchange  with  each  other  for  as  much  as  each 
has  occasion  for,  to  the  mutual  advantage  and  satisfac- 
tion of  both. 

But  as  it  would  be  very  tedious,  if  there  were  no 
other  way  of  general  dealing,  but  by  an  immediate  ex- 
change of  commodities ;  because  a  man  that  had  corn 
to  dispose  of,  and  wanted  cloth  for  it,  might  perhaps, 
in  his  search  for  a  chapman  to  deal  with,  meet  with 
twenty  people  that  had  cloth  to  dispose  of,  but  wanted 
no  corn ;  and  with  twenty  others  that  wanted  his  corn, 
but  had  no  cloth  to  suit  him  with  ;  to  remedy  such 
inconveniences,  and  facilitate  exchange,  men  have  in- 
vented MONEY,  properly  called  a  medium  of  exchange. 
because  through  or  by  its  means  labor  is  exchanged 
for  labor,  or  one  commodity  for  another.  And  what- 
ever particular  thing  men  have  agreed  to  make  this 
medium  of,  whether  gold,  silver,  copper,  or  tobacco,  it 
is,  to  those  who  possess  it  (if  they  want  any  thing), 
that  very  thing  which  they  want,  because  it  will  imme- 
diately procure  it  for  them.  It  is  cloth  to  him  that 
wants  cloth,  and  corn  to  those  that  want  corn ;  and  so 
of  all  other  necessaries,  it  is  whatsoever  it  will  procure. 
Thus  he  who  had  corn  to  dispose  of,  and  wanted  to 
purchase  cloth  with  it,  might  sell  his  corn,  for  its  value  in 
this  general  medium,  to  one  who  wanted  corn  but  had 
no  cloth  ;  and  with  this  medium  he  might  purchase 
cloth  of  him  that  wranted  no  corn,  but  perhaps  some 
other  thing,  as  iron  it  may  be,  which  this  medium  will 
immediately  procure,  and  so  he  may  be  said  to  have  ex- 
changed his  c]^h  for  iron  ;  and  thus  the  general 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  265 

change  is  soon  performed,  to  the  satisfaction  of  all  par- 
ties, with  abundance  of  facility. 

For  many  ages,  those  parts  of  the  world  which  are 
engaged  in  commerce,  have  fixed  upon  gold  and  silver 
as  the  chief  and  most  proper  materials  for  this  medium  ; 
they  being  in  themselves  valuable  metals  for  their  fine- 
ness, beauty,  and  scarcity.  By  these,  particularly  by 
silver,  it  has  been  usual  to  value  all  things  else.  But  as 
silver  itself  is  of  no  certain  permanent  value,  being 
worth  more  or  less  according  to  its  scarcity  or  plenty, 
therefore  it  seems  requisite  to  fix  upon  something  else, 
more  proper  to  be  made  a  measure  of  values,  and  this  T 
take  to  be  labor* 

By  labor  may  the  value  of  silver  be  measured  as  well 
as  other  things.  As,  suppose  one  man  employed  to 
raise  corn,  while  another  is  digging  and  refining  silver ; 
at  the  year's  end,  or  at  any  other  period  of  time,  the 
complete  produce  of  corn,  and  that  of  silver,  are  the 
natural  price  of  each  other ;  and  if  one  be  twenty 
bushels,  and  the  other  twenty  ounces,  then  an  ounce  of 
that  silver  is  worth  the  labor  of  raising  a  bushel  of  that 
corn.  Now  if  by  the  discovery  of  some  nearer,  more 
easy  or  plentiful  mines,  a  man  may  get  forty  ounces  of 
silver  as  easily  as  formerly  he  did  twenty,  and  the  same 
labor  is  still  required  to  raise  twenty  bushels  of  corn, 
then  two  ounces  of  silver  will  be  worth  no  more  than 
the  same  labor  of  raising  one  bushel  of  corn,  and  that 
bushel  of  corn  will  be  as  cheap  at  two  ounces,  as  it  was 
before  at  one,  cateris  paribus. 

Thus  the  riches  of  a  country  are  to  be  valued  by  the 
quantity  of  labor  its  inhabitants  are  able  to  purchase, 
and  not  by  the  quantity  of  silver  and  gold  they  possess ; 
which  will  purchase  more  or  less  labor,  and  therefore  is 

*  Franklin  states  this  doctrine  in  1729,  precisely  is  Adam  Smith  does 
forty-six  years  afterwards  in  The  WetHih  of  Natio:u.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 


266  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

more  or  less  valuable,  as  is  said  before,  according  to  its 
scarcity  or  plenty.  As  those  metals  have  grown  much 
more  plentiful  in  Europe  since  the  discovery  of  Ameri- 
ca,* so  they  have  sunk  in  value  exceedingly ;  for,  to 
instance  in  England,  formerly  one  penny  of  silver  was 
worth  a  day's  labor,  but  now  it  is  hardly  worth  the  sixth 
part  of  a  day's  labor ;  because  not  less  than  sixpence 
will  purchase  the  labor  of  a  man  for  a  day  in  any  part 
of  that  kingdom ;  which  is  wholly  to  be  attributed  to 
the  much  greater  plenty  of  money  now  in  England  than 
formerly.  And  yet  perhaps  England  is  in  effect  no 
richer  now  than  at  that  time ;  because  as  much  labor 
might  be  purchased,  or  work  got  done  of  almost  any 
kind,  for  one  hundred  pounds  then,  as  will  now  require 
or  is  now  worth  six  hundred  pounds. 

In  the  next  place  let  us  consider  the  nature  of  banks 
emitting  bills  of  credit,  as  they  are  at  this  time  used  in 
Hamburgh,  Amsterdam,  London,  and  Venice. 

Those  places  being  seats  of  vast  trade,  and  the  pay- 
ment of  great  sums  being  for  that  reason  frequent,  bills 
of  credit  are  found  very  convenient  in  business ;  be- 
cause a  great  sum  is  more  easily  counted  in  them, 
lighter  in  carriage,  concealed  in  less  room,  and  therefore 
safer  in  travelling  or  laying  up,  and  on  many  other  ac- 
counts they  are  very  much  valued.  The  banks  are  the 
general  cashiers  of  all  gentlemen,  merchants,  and  great 
traders  in  and  about  those  cities ;  there  they  deposit 
their  money,  and  may  take  out  bills  to  the  value,  for 
which  they  can  be  certain  to  have  money  again  at 

*  This  passage  shows,  that  the  theory,  as  to  the  effect  of  the  South 
American  mines  upon  the  rate  of  money  prices  and  the  reduction  of 
the  value  of  the  precious  metals,  so  elaborately  set  forth  and  reasoned 
out  by  Adam  Smith,  was  quite  a  familiar  notion  when  he  was  but  six 
years  old  ;  th"  correctness  of  which,  however,  to  the  extent  laid  down  by 
Franklin  in  this  place,  and  afterwards  by  Smith,  has  of  late  years  been 
gravely  qui  stioned  by  very  respectable  writers.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  267 

the  bank  at  any  time.  This  gives  the  bills  a  credit ;  so 
that  in  England  they  are  never  less  valuable  than 
money,  and  in  Venice  and  Amsterdam  they  are  gene- 
rally worth  more.  And  the  bankers,  always  reserving 
money  in  hand  to  answer  more  than  the  common  run 
of  demands  (and  some  people  constantly  putting  in 
while  others  are  taking  out),  are  able  besides  to  lend 
large  sums,  on  good  security,  to  the  government  or  oth- 
ers, for  a  reasonable  interest,  by  which  they  are  paid 
for  their  care  and  trouble ;  and  the  money,  which  other- 
wise would  have  lain  dead  in  their  hands,  is  made  to 
circulate  again  thereby  among  the  people.  And  thus 
the  running  cash  of  the  nation  is,  as  it  were,  doubled ; 
for  all  great  payments  being  made  in  bills,  money  in 
lower  trade  becomes  much  more  plentiful.  And  this  is 
an  exceeding  great  advantage  to  a  trading  country,  that 
is  not  overstocked  with  gold  and  silver.* 

As  those,  who  take  bills  out  of  the  banks  in  Europe, 
put  in  money  for  security  ;  so  here,  and  in  some  of  the 
neighbouring  provinces,  we  engage  our  land.  Which  of 
these  methods  will  most  effectually  secure  the  bills  from 
actually  sinking  in  value,  comes  next  to  be  considered. 

Trade  in  general  being  nothing  else  but  the  exchange 
of  labor  for  labor,  the  value  of  all  things  is,  as  I  have 
said  before,  most  justly  measured  by  labor.  Now  sup- 

*  This  is  a  clear  and  just  view  of  the  effects  and  utility  of  banks  of 
deposit.  But  the  application,  which  Franklin  is  about  to  make  of  it  to 
land  banks,  will  not  be  acquiesced  in  at  this  day.  Every  body  knows, 
that  certainty  as  to  time  of  payment  of  bills,  that  pass  as  a  circulating 
medium,  is  no  less  important  than  the  certainty  that  they  will  be  eventu- 
ally paid.  The  convertibility  of  the  fund  pledged  for  the  redemption  of 
the  bills  is  as  material  a  circumstance  as  its  sufficiency  and  permanency 
of  value.  Land,  and  immovable  property  generally,  is  less  convertible 
than  movable  property,  for  it  cannot  be  removed  from  its  place  to  seek  a 
market ;  this  renders  this  kind  of  property  peculiarly  unfit  to  constitute  a 
fund  or  pledge  for  the  redemption  of  bills,  that  circulate  as  money.  — 
W  PHILLIPS. 


268  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

pose  I  put  my  money  into  a  bank,  and  take  out  a  bill  for 
the  value ;  if  this  bill  at  the  time  of  my  receiving  it, 
would  purchase  me  the  labor  of  one  hundred  men  for 
twenty  days,  but  some  time  after  will  only  purchase 
the  labor  of  the  same  number  of  men  for  fifteen  days, 
it  is  plain  the  bill  has  sunk  in  value  one  fourth  part. 
Now,  silver  and  gold  being  of  no  permanent  value,  and 
as  this  bill  is  founded  on  money,  and  therefore  to  be 
esteemed  as  such,  it  may  be  that  the  occasion  of  this 
fall  is  the  increasing  plenty  of  gold  and  silver,  by  which 
money  is  one  fourth  part  less  valuable  than  before,  and 
therefore  one  fourth  more  is  given  of  it  for  the  same 
quantity  of  labor ;  and,  if  land  is  not  become  more  plen- 
tiful by  some  proportionate  decrease  of  the  people,  one 
fourth  part  more  of  money  is  given  for  the  same  quanti- 
ty of  land ;  whereby  it  appears,  that  it  would  have  been 
more  profitable  to  me  to  have  laid  that  money  out  in 
land  which  I  put  into  the  bank,  than  to  place  it  there 
and  take  a  bill  for  it.  And  it  is  certain  that  the  value  of 
money  has  been  continually  sinking  in  England  for  sev- 
eral ages  past,  because  it  has  been  continually  increasing 
in  quantity.  But,  if  bills  could  be  taken  out  of  a  bank 
in  Europe  on  a  land  security,  it  is  probable  the  value  of 
such  bills  would  be  more  certain  and  steady,  because 
the  number  of  inhabitants  continues  to  be  near  the  same 
in  those  countries  from  age  to  age. 

For,  as  bills  issued  upon  money  security  are  money, 
so  bills  issued  upon  land,  are  in  effect  coined  land. 

Therefore,  (to  apply  the  above  to  our  own  circum- 
stances) if  land  in  this  province  was  falling,  or  any  way 
likely  to  fall,  it  would  behove  the  legislature  most  care- 
fully to  contrive  how  to  prevent  the  bills  issued  upon 
land  from  falling  with  it.  But,  as  our  people  increase 
exceedingly,  and  will  be  further  increased,  as  I  have 
before  shown,  by  the  help  of  a  large  addition  to  oui 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  269 

currency,  and  as  land  in  consequence  is  continually 
rising,  so,  in  case  no  bills  are  emitted  but  what  are  upon 
land  security,  the  money-acts  in  every  part  punctually 
enforced  and  executed,  the  payments  of  principal  and 
interest  being  duly  and  strictly  required,  and  the  princi- 
pal bond  fide  sunk  according  to  law,  it  is  absolutely  im- 
possible such  bills  should  ever  sink  below  their  first 
value,  or  below  the  value  of  the  land  on  which  they  are 
founded.  In  short,  there  is  so  little  danger  of  their 
sinking,  that  they  would  certainly  rise  as  the  land  rises, 
if  they  were  not  emitted  in  a  proper  manner  for  pre- 
venting it.  That  is,  by  providing  in  the  act,  that  pay- 
ment may  be  made,  either  in  those  bills,  or  in  any  other 
bills  made  current  by  any  act  of  the  legislature  of  this 
province  ;  and  that  the  interest,  as  it  is  received,  may 
be  again  emitted  in  discharge  of  public  debts ;  whereby 
circulating,  it  returns  again  into  the  hands  of  the  bor- 
rowers, and  becomes  part  of  their  future  payments ; 
and  thus,  as  it  is  likely  there  will  not  be  any  difficulty  for 
want  of  bills  to  pay  the  office,  they  are  hereby  kept 
from  rising  above  their  first  value.  For  else,  supposing 
there  should  be  emitted  upon  mortgaged  land  its  full 
present  value  in  bills,  as  in  the  banks  in  Europe  the 
full  value  of  the  money  deposited  is  given  out  in  bills  ; 
and  supposing  the  office  would  take  nothing  but  the 
same  sum  in  those  bills  in  discharge  of  the  land,  as,  in 
the  banks  aforesaid,  the  same  sum  in  their  bills  must  be 
brought  in,  in  order  to  receive  out  the  money  ;  in  such 
case  the  bills  would  most  surely  rise  in  value  as  the  land 
rises ;  as  certainly  as  the  bank  bills  founded  on  money 
would  fall,  if  that  money  was  falling.  Thus,  if  I  were  to 
mortgage  to  a  loan -office,  or  bank,  a  parcel  of  land  now 
valued  at  one  hundred  pounds  in  silver,  and  receive  for 
it  the  like  sum  in  bills,  to  be  paid  in  again  at  the  expira- 
tion of  a  certain  term  of  years,  before  which  my  land, 


•270  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

rising  in  value,  becomes  worth  one  hundred  and  fii'ty 
pounds  in  silver ;  it  is  plain,  that  if  I  have  not  these  bills 
in  possession,  and  the  office  will  take  nothing  but  these 
bills,  or  else  what  it  is  now  become  worth  in  silver,  in 
discharge  of  my  land ;  I  say  it  appears  plain,  that  those 
bills  will  now  be  worth  one  hundred  and  fifty  pounds  in 
silver  to  the  possessor ;  and  if  I  can  purchase  them  for 
less,  in  order  to  redeem  my  land>  I  shall  by  so  much  be 
a  gainer.  f 

I  need  not  say  any  thing  to  convince  the  judicious  that 
our  bills  have  not  yet  sunk,  though  there  is  and  has  • 
been  some  difference  between  them  and  silver ;  be- 
cause it  is  evident,  that  that  difference  is  occasioned  by 
the  scarcity  of  the  latter,  which  is  now  become  a  mer- 
chandise, rising  and  falling,  like  other  commodities,  as 
there  is  a  greater  or  less  demand  for  it,  or  as  it  is  more 
or  less  plenty. 

Yet  farther,  in  order  to  make  a  true  estimate  of  the 
value  of  money,  we  must  distinguish  between  money  as 
it  is  bullion,  which  is  merchandise,  and  as  by  being 
coined  it  is  made  a  currency.  For  its  value  as  a  mer- 
chandise, and  its  value  as  a  currency,  are  two  distinct 
things ;  and  each  may  possibly  rise  and  fall  in  some  de- 
gree independent  of  the  other.  Thus,  if  the  quantity  of 
bullion  increases  in  a  country,  it  will  proportionably  de- 
crease in  value ;  but  if  at  the  same  time  the  quantity  of 
current  coin  should  decrease,  (supposing  payments  may 
not  be  made  in  bullion)  what  coin  there  is  will  rise  in 
value  as  a  currency ;  that  is,  people  will  give  more  labor 
in  manufactures  for  a  certain  sum  of  ready  money. 

In  the  same  manner  must  we  consider  a  paper  cur- 
rency founded  on  land  ;  as  it  is  land,  and  as  it  is  a  cur- 
rency. 

Money  as  bullion,  or  as  land,  is  valuable  by  so  much 
labor  <is  it  costs  to  procure  that  bullion  or  land. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  271 

Money,  as  a  currency,  has  an  additional  value  by  so 
much  time  and  labor  as  it  saves  in  the  exchange  of  cam- 
modifies. 

If,  as  a  currenc*',  it  saves  one  fourth  part  of  the  time 
and  labor  of  a  country  ;  it  has,  on  that  account,  one 
fourth  added  to  its  original  value. 

When  there  is  no  money  in  a  country,  all  commerce 
must  be  by  exchange.*  Now,  if  it  takes  one  fourth 
part  of  the  time  and  labor  of  a  country,  to  exchange  or 
get  their  commodities  exchanged  ;  then,  in  computing 
•their  value,  that  labor  of  exchanging  must  be  added  to 
the  labor  of  manufacturing  those  commodities.  But  if 
that  time  or  labor  is  saved  by  introducing  money  suffi- 
cient, then  the  additional  value  on  account  of  the  labor 
of  exchanging  may  be  abated,  and  things  sold  for  only 
the  value  of  the  labor  in  making  them ;  because  the 
people  may  now  in  the  same  time  make  one  fourth 
more  in  quantity  of  manufactures  than  they  could  be- 
fore. 

From  these  considerations  it  may  be  gathered,  that 
in  all  the  degrees  between  having  no  money  in  a  coun- 
try, and  money  sufficient  for  the  trade,  it  will  rise  and 
fall  in  value  as  a  currency,  in  proportion  to  the  decrease 
or  increase  of  its  quantity.  And  if  there  may  be  at 
some  time  more  than  enough,  the  overplus  will  have  no 
effect  towards  making  the  currency,  as  a  currency,  of 
less  value  than  when  there  was  but  enough ;  because 
such  overplus  will  not  be  used  in  trade,  but  be  some 
other  way  disposed  of. 

If  we  inquire,  how  much  per  cent  interest  ought  to  be 
required  upon  the  loan  of  these  bills,  we  must  consider 

*  All  commerce  is  by  exchange,  or  rather  is  exchange,  whether  a  trade 
involves  money  or  not.  The  kind  of  trade  intended  by  the  author  is 
in  technical  as  well  as  in  common  language  known  by  the  name  of  barter. 
—  W.  PHILLIPS. 


272  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

what  is  the  natural  standard  of  usury.  And  this  ap- 
pears to  be,  where  the  security  is  undoubted,  at  least 
the  rent  of  so  much  land  as  the  money  lent  will  buy. 
For  it  cannot  be  expected,  that  any  man  will  lend  his 
money  for  less  than  it  would  fetch  him  in  as  rent  if  he 
laid  it  out  in  land,  which  is  the  most  secure  property  in 
the  world.  But  if  the  security  is  casual,  then  a  kind  of 
insurance  must  be  interwoven  with  the  simple  natural 
interest,  which  may  advance  the  usury  very  consciona- 
bly  to  any  height  below  the  principal  itself.  Now, 
among  us,  if  the  value  of  land  is  twenty  years'  pur- 
chase, five  per  cent  is  the  just  rate  of  interest  for  money 
lent  on  undoubted  security.  Yet,  if  money  grows 
scarce  in  a  country,  it  becomes  more  difficult  for  people 
to  make  punctual  payments  of  what  they  borrow, 
money  being  hard  to  be  raised ;  likewise,  trade  being 
discouraged  and  business  impeded  for  want  of  a  cur- 
rency, abundance  of  people  must  be  in  declining  cir- 
cumstances, and  by  these  means  security  is  more  pre- 
carious than  where  mone^  is  plenty.  On  such  ac- 
counts it  is  no  wonder  if  people  ask  a  greater  interest 
for  their  money  than  the  natural  interest ;  and  what  is 
above  is  to  be  looked  upon  as  a  kind  of  premium  for 
the  insurance  of  those  uncertainties,  as  they  are  greater 
or  less.  Thus  wre  always  see,  that  wrhere  money  is 
scarce,  interest  is  high,  and  low  where  it  is  plenty.* 

*  Here  is  the  error  mentioned  in  a  previous  note  ;  the  author  confounds 
circulating  medium  with  loanable  capital.  Thus,  by  the  common  phrase 
scarcity  of  money,  we  always  mean  scarcity  of  money  or  capital  to  be 
loaned,  which  is  quite  a  different  thing  from  insufficiency  of  the  quantity 
of  the  circulating  medium  for  the  purposes  of  trade.  The  two  may  be 
contemporaneous,  but  they  are  different  things.  It  may  readily  be  imag- 
ined that  trade,  and  production,  and  investments  generally,  may  be  so 
profitable,  that  people  would  prefer  to  invest  or  employ  their  capital  them- 
selves, rather  than  loan  it  to  others  to  be  invested  or  employed.  This 
state  of  things  has  no  necessary  connexion  with  the  sufficiency  of  the 
quantity  of  circulating  medium.  Money  in  this  sense  may  be  plenty, 
when  in  the  other  it  is  scarce.  This  is  a  state  of  things,  which  does  in 
fact  often  happen.  -  W  PHILI.II«< 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  273 

Now  it  is  certainly  the  advantage  of  a  country  to  make 
interest  as  low  as  possible,  as  I  have  already  shown ; 
and  this  can  be  done  no  other  way  than  by  making 
money  plentiful.  And  since,  in  emitting  paper  money 
among  us,  the  office  has  the  best  of  security,  the  titles 
to  the  land  being  all  skilfully  and  strictly  examined  and 
ascertained;  and  as  it  is  only  permitting  the  people  by 
law  to  coin  their  own  land,  which  costs  the  government 
nothing,  the  interest  being  more  than  enough  to  pay 
the  charges  of  printing,  officers'  fees,  &,c.,  I  cannot  see 
any  good  reason  why  four  per  cent  to  the  loan-office 
should  not  be  thought  fully  sufficient.  As  a  low  inter- 
est may  incline  more  to  take  money  out,  it  will  become 
more  plentiful  in  trade ;  and  this  may  bring  down  the 
common  usury,  in  which  security  is  more  dubious,  to 
the  pitch  it  is  determined  at  by  law. 

If  it  should  be  objected,  that  emitting  it  at  so  low  an 
interest,  and  on  such  easy  terms,  will  occasion  more  to  be 
taken  out  than  the  trade  of  the  country  really  requires  ; 
it  may  be  answered,  that,  as  has  already  been  shown, 
there  can  never  be  so  much  of  it  emitted  as  to  make  it 
fall  below  the  land  it  is  founded  on ;  because  no  man  in 
his  senses  will  mortgage  his  estate  for  what  is  of  no 
more  value  to  him  than  that  he  has  mortgaged,  espe- 
cially if  the  possession  of  what  he  receives  is  more  pre- 
carious than  of  what  he  mortgages,  as  that  of  paper 
money  is  when  compared  to  land.*  And  if  it  should 

*  This  passage  is  obscure,  a  fault  with  which  Franklin's  writings  are 
rarely  chargeable.  It  is  so  far  from  being  true  that  no  man  in  his  senses 
will  mortgage  his  land  for  what  is  of  no  more  value  to  him  than  that 
which  he  mortgages,  that  it  is  the  mopt  common  practice  to  mortgage 
lands  and  personal  property  for  what  is  not  of  half  the  value  of  either. 
The  lender  often  demands  security  exceeding  the  value  loaned.  Perhaps 
the  meaning  is,  that  the  money  must  be  of  more  convenience  or  use  to  the 
borrower  than  the  land  mortgaged  for  it,  or  he  would  not  borrow  ;  and 
that  it  could  not  be  of  such  convenience  and  use  to  him  if  an  excess 

VOL.    II.  18 


274  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

ever  become  so  plenty  by  indiscreet  persons  continuing 
to  take  out  a  large  overplus,  above  what  is  necessary  in 
trade,  so  as  to  make  people  imagine  it  would  become 
by  that  means  of  less  value  than  their  mortgaged  lands, 
they  would  immediately  of  course  begin  to  pay  it  in  again 
to  the  office  to  redeem  their  land,  and  continue  to  do 
so  till  there  was  no  more  left  in  trade  than  was  abso- 
lutely necessary.*  And  thus  the  proportion  would  find 
itself  (though  there  were  a  million  too  much  in  the  of- 
fice to  be  let  out),  without  giving  any  one  the  trouble  of 
calculation. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  objected  to  what  I  have  written 
concerning  the  advantages  of  a  large  addition  to  our 
currency,  that,  if  the  people  of  this  province  increase, 
and  husbandry  is  more  followed,  we  shall  overstock  the 
markets  with  our  produce  of  flour,  $*c.f  To  this  it 

had  been  issued,  whereby  its  value  and  utility  would  be  diminished.  — 
W.  PHILLIPS. 

*  But  there  was  another  view  of  the  case  presented  by  the  opposers  of 
paper  currency,  which  Franklin  omits.  If  a  man  has  mortgaged  his  land 
for  a  hundred  pounds,  and  invested  the  money  in  the  purchase  of  other 
land,  and  two  years  afterwards,  when  the  money  has  depreciated  in  value 
fifty  per  cent,  sells  half  of  the  land  he  purchased  for  a  hundred  pounds 
and  pays  off  his  debt,  though  the  land  may  not  have  risen  at  all  in  the 
mean  time,  he  makes  a  very  good  operation,  at  the  expense  of  those 
through  whose  hands  the  money  has  been  passing  in  the  mean  time 
This  was  the  operation  of  the  paper-money  system,  to  which  the  op- 
posers  of  that  system  objected.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 

\  The  author  passes  this  objection  with  a  very  slight  consideration,  and 
on  the  whole  rather  disingenuously  and  like  a  partisan,  as  he  and  every 
other  man  in  the  province  were,  at  the  time,  on  one  side  or  the  other  of 
the  question.  He  had  immediately  before  said,  that,  in  case  of  excess, 
the  surplus  would  be  returned,  and  of  course  there  could  not  be  a  lasting 
excess  if  this  was  the  case.  But  here  he  supposes  there  may  be  a  sur- 
plus until  the  increase  of  business  shall  absorb  it,  and  that  such  increase 
will  be  sufficient  for  the  purpose.  Now  the  first  supposition  is  palpably 
not  well  founded,  in  regard  to  a  money  redeemable  at  some  future  day, 
as  was  the  provincial  paper  money  generally.  As  to  the  second  supposi- 
tion, that  any  quantity  of  such  paper  that  can  be  issued,  will  be  used  and 
eventually  needed,  there  are  abundant  examples  to  the  contrary.  — 
W.  PHILLIPS. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  275 

may  be  answered,  that  we  can  never  have  too  many 
people  (nor  too  much  money.)  For,  when  one  branch 
of  trade  or  business  is  overstocked  with  hands,  there 
are  the  more  to  spare  to  be  employed  in  another.  So, 
if  raising  wheat  proves  dull,  more  may  (if  there  is 
money  to  support  and  carry  on  new  manufactures)  pro- 
ceed to  the  raising  and  manufacturing  of  hemp,  silk, 
iron,  and  many  other  things  the  country  is  very  capable 
of,  for  which  we  only  want  people  to  work,  and  money 
to  pay  them  with. 

Upon  the  whole  it  may  be  observed,  that  it  is  the 
highest  interest  of  a  trading  country  in  general  to  make 
money  plentiful ;  and  that  it  can  be  a  disadvantage  to 
none  that  have  honest  designs.  It  cannot  hurt  even 
the  usurers,  though  it  should  sink  what  they  receive  as 
interest ;  because  they  will  be  proportionably  more  se- 
cure in  what  they  lend;  or  they  will  have  an  opportu- 
nity of  employing  their  money  to  greater  advantage,  to 
themselves  as  well  as  to  the  country.  Neither  can  it 
hurt  those  merchants,  who  have  great  sums  outstanding 
in  debts  in  the  country,  and  seem  on  that  account  to 
have  the  most  plausible  reason  to  fear  it ;  to  wit,  be- 
cause a  large  addition  being  made  to  our  currency  will 
increase  the  demand  of  our  exporting  produce,  and  by 
that  means  raise  the  price  of  it,  so  that  they  will  not  be 
able  to  purchase  so  much  bread  or  flour  with  one  hun- 
dred pounds  when  they  shall  receive  it  after  such  an 
addition,  as  they  now  can,  and  may  if  there  is  no  addi- 
tion. I  say  it  cannot  hurt  even  such,  because  they  will 
get  in  their  debts  just  in  exact  proportion  so  much  the 
easier  and  sooner  as  the  money  becomes  plentier ;  and 
therefore,  considering  the  interest  and  trouble  saved, 
they  will  not  be  losers ;  because  it  only  sinks  in  value 
as  a  currency,  proportionally  as  it  becomes  more  plenty. 
It  cannot  hurt  the  interest  of  Great  Britain,  as  has  been 


276  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

shown ;  and  it  will  greatly  advance  the  interest  of  the 
proprietor.  It  will  be  an  advantage  to  every  industrious 
tradesman,  &,c.,  because  his  business  will  be  carried  on 
more  freely,  and  trade  be  universally  enlivened  by  it. 
And  as  more  business  in  all  manufactures  will  be  done, 
by  so  much  as  the  labor  and  time  spent  in  exchange  is 
saved,  the  country  in  general  will  grow  so  much  the 
richer. 

It  is  nothing  to  the  purpose  to  object  the  wretched 
fall  of  the  bills  in  New  England  and  South  Carolina, 
unless  it  might  be  made  evident  that  their  currency 
was  emitted  with  the  same  prudence,  and  on  such 
good  security,  as  ours  is ;  and  it  certainly  was  not. 

As  this  essay  is  wrote  and  published  in  haste,  and 
the  subject  in  itself  intricate,  I  hope  I  shall  be  cen- 
sured with  candor,  if,  for  want  of  time  carefully  to  re- 
vise what  I  have  written,  in  some  places  I  should  ap- 
pear to  have  expressed  myself  too  obscurely,  and  in 
others  am  liable  to  objections  I  did  not  foresee.  I 
sincerely  desire  to  be  acquainted  with  the  truth,  and 
on  that  account  shall  think  myself  obliged  to  any  one, 
who  will  take  the  pains  to  show  me,  or  the  public, 
where  I  am  mistaken  in  my  conclusions.  And  as 
we  all  know  there  are  among  us  several  gentlemen  of 
acute  parts  and  profound  learning,  who  are  very  much 
against  any  addition  to  our  money,  it  were  to  be 
wished  that  they  would  favor  the  country  with  their 
sentiments  on  this  head  in  print ;  which,  supported 
with  truth  and  good  reasoning,  may  probably  be  very 
convincing.  And  this  is  to  be  desired  the  rather  be- 
cause many  people,  knowing  the  abilities  of  those 
gentlemen  to  manage  a  good  cause,  are  apt  to  con- 
strue their  silence  in  this,  as  an  argument  of  a  bad 
one.  Had  any  thing  of  that  kind  ever  yet  appeared, 
perhaps  I  should  not  have  given  the  public  this 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  277 

trouble.  But,  as  those  ingenious  gentlemen  have  not 
yet  (and  I  doubt  never  will)  think  it  worth  their  con- 
cern to  enlighten  the  minds  of  their  erring  country- 
men in  this  particular,  I  think  it  would  be  highly  com- 
mendable in  every  one  of  us,  more  fully  to  bend  our 
minds  to  the  study  of  what  is  the  true  interest  of  Penn- 
sylvania ;  whereby  we  may  be  enabled,  not  only  to 
reason  pertinently  with  one  another;  but,  if  occasion 
requires,  to  transmit  home  such  clear  representations,  as 
must  inevitably  convince  our  superiors  of  the  reasona- 
bleness and  integrity  of  our  designs.* 

Philadelphia,  April  3,  1729. 

*  Soon  after  this  pamphlet  was  written,  the  measure  proposed  in  it  was 
adopted  by  the  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania;  and  subsequently  another 
bill  for  a  similar  object  was  passed,  the  principal  features  of  which  were 
published  by  Governor  Pownall.  They  were  understood  to  have  been 
communicated  to  him  by  Franklin,  with  other  remarks  on  paper  money. 
The  proceedings  of  the  Assembly  on  the  subject  are  described  in  the 
extract  below. 

"  As  the  paper-money  act  made  and  passed  in  Pennsylvania,  in  1739, 
was  the  completest  of  the  kind,  containing  all  the  improvements  which 
experience  had  from  time  to  time  suggested,  in  the  execution  of  preceding 
acts  ;  an  account  of  that  act  will  best  explain  and  recommend  the  meas- 
ure contained  in  the  following  proposal. 

"  The  sum  of  the  notes,  by  that  act  directed  to  be  printed,  was  eighty 
thousand  pounds  proclamation  money.  This  money  was  to  be  emitted  to 
the  several  borrowers,  from  a  loan-office  established  for  that  purpose. 

"  Five  persons  were  nominated  trustees  of  the  loan-office,  under  whose 
care  and  direction,  the  bills  or  notes  were  to  be  printed  and  emitted. 

"  To  suit  the  bills  for  a  common  currency,  they  were  of  small  and 
various  denominations,  from  twenty  shillings  downwards  to  one  shilling. 

"  Various  precautions  were  taken,  to  prevent  counterfeits,  by  peculiari- 
ties in  the  paper,  character,  manner  of  printing,  signing,  numbering,  &c. 

"  The  trustees  took  an  oath,  and  gave  security  for  the  due  and  faithful 
execution  of  their  office. 

"  They  were  to  lend  out  the  bills  on  real  security  of  at  least  double  the 
value,  for  a  term  of  sixteen  years,  to  be  repaid  in  yearly  quotas  or  instal- 
ments, with  interest.  Thus  one  sixteenth  part  of  the  principal  was  yearly 
paid  back  into  the  office,  which  made  the  payment  easy  to  the  borrower. 
The  interest  was  applied  to  public  services,  the  principal,  during  the  first 
ten  years,  let  out  again  to  fresh  borrowers. 

"  The  new  borrowers,  from  year  to  year,  were  to  have  the  money  only 


278  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

ON  GOVERNMENT.  —  No.  I.* 

FROM    THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE,    APRIL    I,    1736. 

GOVERNMENT  is  aptly  compared  to  architecture;  if 
the  superstructure  is  too  heavy  for  the  foundation,  the 
building  totters,  though  assisted  by  outward  props  of 
art.  But  leaving  it  to  everybody  to  mould  the  simili- 
tude according  to  his  particular  fancy,  I  shall  only 
observe,  that  the  people  have  made  the  most  conside- 
rable part  of  the  legislature  in  every  free  state ;  which 
has  been  more  or  less  so,  in  proportion  to  the  share 
they  have  had  in  the  administration  of  affairs.  The 
English  constitution  is  fixed  on  the  strongest  basis ;  we 

for  the  remaining  part  of  the  term  of  sixteen  years,  repaying,  by  fewer 
and,  of  course,  proportionably  larger  instalments,  and  during  the  last  six 
years  of  the  sixteen,  the  sums  paid  in  were  not  to  be  remitted,  but  the 
notes  burnt  and  destroyed  ;  so  that,  at  the  end  of  the  sixteen  years,  the 
whole  might  be  called  in  and  burnt,  and  the  accounts  completely  settled. 

"  The  trustees  were  taken  from  all  the  different  counties  of  the  prov- 
ince, their  residence  in  different  parts  giving  them  better  opportunities  of 
being  acquainted  with  the  value  and  circumstances  of  estates  offered  in 
mortgage. 

"  They  were  to  continue  but  four  years  in  office  ;  were  to  account  an- 
nually to  committees  of  Assembly ;  and,  at  the  expiration  of  that  term, 
they  were  to  deliver  up  all  moneys  and  securities  in  their  hands,  to  their 
successors,  before  their  bonds  and  securities  could  be  discharged. 

"  Lest  a  few  wealthy  persons  should  engross  the  money,  which  was 
intended  for  more  general  benefit,  no  one  person,  whatever  security  he 
might  offer,  could  borrow  more  than  one  hundred  pounds. 

"  Thus,  numbers  of  poor  new  settlers  were  accommodated  and  assist 
ed  with  money  to  carry  on  their  settlements,  to  be  repaid  in  easy  portions 
yearly,  as  the  yearly  produce  of  their  lands  should  enable  them."  — 
POWNALL'S  Jldministraiion  of  the  Colonies,  4th  edit.  pp.  234-236. 
—  EDITOR. 

*  What  proof  there  is,  that  the  two  essays  on  Government  were  written 
by  Franklin,  except  that  they  appeared  in  his  Gazette,  I  have  no  means  of 
determining.  The  internal  evidence  does  not  appear  very  strong.  They 
ore  included  in  Duane's  edition.  —  EDITOR. 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  '     279 

choose  whomsoever  we  please  for  our  representatives, 
and  thus  we  have  all  the  advantages  of  a  democracy, 
without  any  of  its  inconveniences. 

Popular  governments  have  not  been  framed  without 
the  wisest  reasons.  It  seemed  highly  fitting,  that  the 
conduct  of  magistrates,  created  by  and  for  the  good  of 
the  whole,  should  be  made  liable  to  the  inspection  and 
animadversion  of  the  whole.  Besides,  there  could  not 
be  a  more  potent  counterpoise  to  the  designs  of  am- 
bitious men,  than  a  multitude  that  hated  and  feared 
ambition.  Moreover,  the  power  they  possessed,  though 
great  collectively,  yet,  being  distributed  among  a  vast 
number,  the  share  of  each  individual  was  too  incon- 
siderable to  lay  him  under  any  temptations  of  turning 
it  to  a  wrong  use.  Again,  a  body  of  people  thus 
circumstanced  cannot  be  supposed  to  judge  amiss  on 
any  essential  points;  for,  if  they  decide  in  favor  of 
themselves,  which  is  extremely  natural,  their  decision 
is  just,  inasmuch,  as  whatever  contributes  to  their 
benefit  is  a  general  benefit,  and  advances  the  real 
public  good.  Hence  we  have  an  easy  solution  of  the 
sophism,  so  often  proposed  by  the  abettors  of  tyranny, 
who  tell  us,  that,  when  differences  arise  between  a 
prince  and  his  subjects,  the  latter  are  incapable  of  being 
judges  of  the  controversy,  for  that  would  be  setting  up 
judge  and  party  in  the  same  person. 

Some  foreigners,  have  had  a  truer  idea  of  our  con- 
stitution. We  read  in  the  Memoirs  of  the  late  arch- 
bishop of  Cambray,  Fenelon,  the  celebrated  author 
of  Telemachus,  a  conversation  which  he  had  with 
the  Pretender,  (son  of  James  the  Second,  of  England.) 
"  If  ever  you  come  to  the  crown  of  England, "  says  the 
bishop,  "  you  will  be  a  happy  prince ;  with  an  un- 
limited power  to  do  good,  and  only  restrained  from 
doing  evil."  A  blunt  Briton,  perhaps,  would  have 


280  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

said,  in  plain  English,  "  You  '11  be  at  liberty  to  do  as 
much  good  as  you  please,  but,  by  G — ,  you  shall 
do  us  no  hurt."  The  bishop  sweetened  the  pill;  for 
such  it  would  appear  in  its  simple  form,  to  a  mind 
fraught  with  notions  of  arbitrary  power,  and  educated 
among  a  people,  who,  with  the  utmost  simplicity,  boast 
of  their  slavery. 

What  can  be  more  ridiculous  than  to  hear  them 
frequently  object  to  the  English  gentlemen  that  travel 
in  their  country,  "  What  is  your  king  ?  Commend 
me  to  our  grand  monarch,  who  can  do  whatever  he 
pleases."*  But,  begging  pardon  of  these  facetious 
gentlemen,  whom  it  is  not  my  intention  to  disturb,  in 
their  many  notions  of  government,  I  shall  go  on  to 
examine  what  were  the  sentiments  of  the  ancient  Ro- 
mans on  this  head. 

We  find  that  their  dictator,  a  magistrate  never  created 
but  in  cases  of  great  extremity,  vested  with  power  as 
absolute  during  his  office  (which  never  exceeded  six 
months)  as  the  greatest  kings  were  never  possessed  of; 
this  great  ruler  was  liable  to  be  called  to  an  account 
by  any  of  the  tribunes  of  the  people,  f  whose  persons 
were  at  the  same  time  rendered  sacred  by  the  most 
solemn  laws. 

This  is  evident  proof,  that  the  Romans  were  of 
opinion,  that  the  people  could  not  in  any  sense  divest 
themselves  of  the  supreme  authority,  by  conferring  the 
most  extensive  power  they  possibly  could  imagine,  on 
one  or  more  persons  acting  as  magistrates. 

This  appears  still  more  evident,  in  remarking  that 
the  people  sat  as  umpire  of  the  differences  which  had 

*  Q,u'est  ce  que  votre  roi  ?  Parlez-moi  de  notre  grand  monarque, 
morbleu!  qui  pent  faire  tout  ce  qu'il  veut. 

f  Si  antiquus  animus  plebi  Romanse  esset,  (says  one  of  the  tribunes,) 
audaciter  se  laturum  fuisse  de  abrogando  Q,.  Fabii  [dictatoris]  imperio 
— T.  Liv.  lib.  xxii.  cap.  25. 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  281 

arisen  between  the  dictator  and  senate,  in  the  case  ot 
young  Fabius.* 

The  great  deference,  which  Cicero  paid  to  the 
judgment  of  the  Roman  people,  appears  by  those  in- 
imitable orations,  of  which  they  were  the  sole  judges 
and  auditors.  That  great  orator  had  a  just  opinion 
of  their  understanding.  Nothing  gave  him  a  more 
sensible  pleasure  than  their  approbation.  But  the 
Roman  populace  were  more  learned  than  ours,  more 
virtuous  perhaps;  but  their  sense  of  discernment  was 
not  better  than  ours.  However,  the  judgment  of  a 
whole  people,  especially  of  a  free  people,  is  looked  upon 
to  be  infallible ;  so  that  it  has  become  a  common  prov- 
erb, that  the  voice  of  God  is  the  voice  of  the  people, 
Vox  Dei  est  populi  vox.  And  this  is  universally  true, 
while  they  remain  in  their  proper  sphere,  unbiased  by 
faction,  undeluded  by  the  tricks  of  designing  men. 

Thank  God !  we  are  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  all 
these  privileges.  But  can'  we  be  taught  to  prize  them 
too  much  ?  or  how  can  we  prize  them  equal  to  their 
value,  if  we  do  not  know  their  intrinsic  worth,  and  that 
they  are  not  a  gift  bestowed  upon  us  by  other  men, 
but  a  right  that  belongs  to  us  by  the  laws  of  God  and 
nature  ? 

Since  they  are  our  right,  let  us  be  vigilant  to  pre- 
serve them  uninfringed,  and  free  from  encroachments. 
If  animosities  arise,  and  we  should  be  obliged  to  resort 
to  party,  let  each  of  us  range  himself  on  the  side  which 
unfurls  the  ensigns  of  public  good.  Faction  will  then 
vanish,  which,  if  not  timely  suppressed,  may  overturn 
the  balance,  the  palladium  of  liberty,  and  crush  us 
under  its  ruins. 

*  Tribunes  plebis  appello,  (says  an  illustrious  senator  to  the  dictator.) 
et  provoco  ad  populum,  eumque  tibi,  fugienti  senatus  judicium,  judicera 
fero.—  T.  Liv.  lib.  viii.  cap.  33. 


282  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

The  design  of  this  paper  is  to  assert  the  common 
rights  of  mankind,  by  endeavouring  to  illustrate  eternal 
truths,  that  cannot  be  shaken  even  with  the  foundations 
of  the  world. 

I  may  take  another  opportunity  to  show,  how  a 
government,  founded  on  these  principles,  rises  into  the 
most  beautiful  structure,  with  all  the  graces  of  sym- 
metry and  proportion,  as  much  different  from  that 
raised  on  arbitrary  power,  as  Roman  architecture  from 
a  Gothic  building. 


ON    GOVERNMENT.  — No.  II. 

FROM    THt    PEiVVSrLVANIA    GAZETTE,    APRIL    8,    1736. 

AN  ancient  sage  of  the  law  *  says,  "  The  King  can 
do  no  wrong ;  for,  if  he  doeth  wrong,  he  is  not  the 
King."  f  And  in  another  place,  "  When  the  King  doth 
justice,  he  is  God's  vicar;  but  when  he  doth  unjustly, 
he  is  the  agent  of  the  Devil."  J  The  politeness  of  the 
later  times  has  given  a  softer  turn  to  the  expression.  It 
is  now  said,  The  King  can  do  no  wrong,  but  his  minis- 
ters may.  In  allusion  to  this,  the  Parliament  of  1741 
declared  they  made  war  against  the  King  for  the 
King's  service.  But  his  Majesty  affirmed,  that  such  a 
distinction  was  absurd ;  though,  by  the  way,  his  own 
creed  contained  a  greater  absurdity,  for  he  believed  he 
had  an  authority  from  God  to  oppress  the  subjects, 
whom  by  the  same  authority  he  was  obliged  to  cherish 
and  defend.  Aristotle  calls  all  princes  tyrants,  from  the 

*  Bracton,  De  Legibus  et  Consueludinibus  Anglict ;  an  author  of  great 
weight,  contemporary  with  Henry  the  Third. 

*•  Rex  non  facit  injuriam,  quia,  si  facit  injuriam,  non  est  rex. 

I  Dum  facit  justitiam,  vicanus  est  Regis  seterni ;  minister  autem  Diabok, 
dum  decl  net  ad  injuriam. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  283 

moment  they  set  up  an  interest  different  from  that  of 
their  subjects ;  and  this  is  the  only  definition  he  gives 
us  of  tyranny.  Our  own  countryman,  before  cited,  and 
the  sagacious  Greek,  both  agree  on  this  point,  that  a 
governor,  who  acts  contrary  to  the  ends  of  government, 
loses  the  title  bestowed  on  him  at  his  institution.  It 
would  be  highly  improper  to  give  the  same  name  to 
things  of  different  qualities,  or  that  produce  different 
effects.  Matter,  while  it  communicates  heat,  is  gene- 
rally called  fire,  but  when  the  flames  are  extinguished, 
the  appellation  is  changed.  Sometimes  indeed  the 
same  sound  serves  to  express  things  of  a  contrary  na- 
ture ;  but  that  only  denotes  a  defect,  or  poverty,  in  the 
language. 

A  wicked  prince  imagines,  that  the  crown  receives  a 
new  lustre  from  absolute  power,  whereas  every  step  he 
takes  to  obtain  it  is  a  forfeiture  of  the  crown. 

His  conduct  is  as  foolish  as  it  is  detestable  ;  he  aims 
at  glory  and  power,  and  treads  the  path  that  leads  to 
dishonor  and  contempt ;  he  is  a  plague  to  his  country, 
and  deceives  himself. 

During  the  inglorious  reigns  of  the  Stuarts  (except  a 
part  of  Queen  Anne's),  it  was  a  perpetual  struggle  be- 
tween them  and  the  people ;  those  endeavouring  to 
subvert,  and  these  bravely  opposing  the  subverters  of 
liberty.  What  were  the  consequences  ?  One  lost  his 
life  on  the  scaffold,  another  was  banished.  The  memo- 
ry of  all  of  them  stinks  in  the  nostrils  of  every  true 
lover  of  his  country ;  and  their  history  stains  with  in- 
delible blots  the  English  annals. 

The  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth  furnishes  a  beautiful 
contrast.  All  her  views  centred  in  one  object,  which 
was  the  public  good.  She  made  it  her  study  to  gain 
the  love  of  her  subjects,  not  by  flattery  or  little  sooth- 
ing arts,  but  by  rendering  them  substantial  favors.  It 


284  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS 

was  far  from  her  policy  to  encroach  en  their  privileges  j 
she  augmented  and  secured  them. 

And  it  is  remarked  to  her  eternal  honor,  that  the  acts 
presented  to  her  for  her  royal  approbation  (forty  or  fifty 
of  a  session  of  Parliament)  were  signed  without  exam- 
ining any  farther  than  the  titles.  This  wise  and  good 
Queen  only  reigned  for  her  people,  and  knew  that  it 
was  absurd  to  imagine  they  would  promote  any  thing 
contrary  to  their  own  interests,  which  she  so  studiously 
endeavoured  to  advance.*  On  the  other  hand,  when 
this  Queen  asked  money  of  the  Parliament,  they  fre- 
quently gave  her  more  than  she  demanded,  and  never 
inquired  how  it  was  disposed  of,  except  for  form's  sake, 
being  fully  convinced  she  would  not  employ  it  but  for 
the  general  welfare.  Happy  princess,  happy  people  ! 
What  harmony,  what  mutual  confidence !  Seconded 
by  the  hearts  and  purses  of  her  subjects,  she  crushed 
the  exorbitant  power  of  Spain,  which  threatened  de- 
struction to  England,  and  chains  to  all  Europe.  That 
monarchy  has  ever  since  pined  under  the  stroke,  so 
that  now,  when  we  send  a  man-of-war  or  two  to  the 
West  Indies,  it  puts  her  into  such  a  panic  fright,  that,  if 
the  galleons  can  steal  home,  she  sings  Te  Deum  as  for  a 
victory. 

This  is  a  true  picture  of  government ;  its  reverse  is 
tyranny. 

*  This  notion  of  the  infallible  perception  by  the  people  of  their  true  in- 
terest, and  their  unerring  pursuit  of  it,  was  very  prevalent  in  the  provin- 
ces, and,  for  a  time,  in  the  States  after  the  establishment  of  American 
independence.  A  striking  instance  of  it  is  mentioned  by  Mr.  Justice 
Story,  in  his  Eulogy  on  Chief  Justice  Marshall,  who,  during  the  earlier 
part  of  his  life,  did  not  dream  that  the  voice  of  the  people  could  be  other 
than  the  voice  of  God.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  285 

ON  FREEDOM  OF  SPEECH  AND  THE  PRESS.  * 

FROM    THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE,    NOVEMBER,    1737. 

FREEDOM  of  speech  is  a  principal  pillar  of  a  free 
government ;  when  this  support  is  taken  away,  the 
constitution  of  a  free  society  is  dissolved,  and  tyranny  is 
erected  on  its  ruins.  Republics  and  limited  monarchies 
derive  their  strength  and  vigor  from  a  popular  examina- 
tion into  the  action  of  the  magistrates ;  this  privilege  in 
all  ages  has  been,  and  always  will  be  abused.  The 
best  of  men  could  not  escape  the  censure  and  envy 
of  the  times  they  lived  in.  Yet  this  evil  is  not  so 
great  as  it  may  appear  at  first  sight.  A  magistrate, 
who  sincerely  aims  at  the  good  of  society,  will  always 
have  the  inclinations  of  a  great  majority  on  his  side, 
and  an  impartial  posterity  will  not  fail  to  render  him 
justice. 

Those  abuses  of  the  freedom  of  speech  are  the 
excesses  of  liberty.  They  ought  to  be  repressed ; 
but  to  whom  dare  we  commit  the  care  of  doing  it  ? 
An  evil  magistrate  intrusted  with  power  to  punish  for 
words,  would  be  armed  with  a  weapon  the  most  de- 
structive and  terrible.  Under  pretence  of  pruning  off 
the  exuberant  branches,  he  would  be  apt  to  destroy  the 
tree.  » 

It  is  certain,  that  he  who  robs  another  of  his  moral 
reputation  more  richly  merits  a  gibbet,  than  if  he  had 
plundered  him  of  his  purse  on  the  highway.  Augustus 
Caesar,  under  the  specious  pretext  of  preserving  the 

*  This  essay,  in  regard  to  its  genuineness,  may  fairly  be  considered  in 
the  same  light  as  those  preceding  it,  on  Government.  Though  written 
with  ability,  and  probably  expressing  the  sentiments  of  Franklin,  yet  the 
characteristics  of  the  style  are  not  such  as  to  make  it  evident,  on  that 
ground  alone,  that  the  performance  came  from  his  pen.  It  is  proper  to 
state,  however,  that  Mr.  Duane  has  included  it  in  his  edition,  and  thus 
given  it  the  sanction  of  his  judgment. — EDITOR. 


286  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

character  of  the  Romans  from  defamation,  introduced 
the  law  whereby  libelling  was  involved  in  the  penalties 
of  treason  against  the  state  This  law  established  his 
tyranny;  and,  for  one  mischief  which  it  prevented,  ten 
thousand  evils,  horrible  and  afflicting,  sprung  up  in  its 
place.  Thenceforward  every  person's  life  and  fortune 
depended  on  the  vile  breath  of  informers.  The  con- 
struction of  words  being  arbitrary,  and  left  to  the  decis- 
ion of  the  judges,  no  man  could  write  or  open  his 
mouth  without  being  in  danger  of  forfeiting  his  head. 

One  was  put  to  death  for  inserting  in  his  History  the 
praises  of  Brutus  ;  another,  for  styling  Cassius  the  last 
of  the  Romans.  Caligula  valued  himself  for  being  a 
notable  dancer ;  and  to  deny,  that  he  excelled  in  that 
manly  accomplishment,  was  high  treason.  This  empe- 
ror raised  his  horse,  the  name  of  which  was  Incitatus,  to 
the  dignity  of  consul ;  and,  though  history  is  silent,  I  do 
not  question  but  it  was  a  capital  crime  to  show  the 
least  contempt  for  that  high  officer  of  state !  Sup- 
pose, then,  any  one  had  called  the  prime  minister  a 
stupid  animal;  the  emperor's  council  might  argue,  that 
the  malice  of  the  libel  was  the  more  aggravated  by  its 
being  true,  and  consequently  more  likely  to  excite  the 
family  of  this  illustrious  magistrate  to  a  breach  of  the 
peace,  or  to  acts  of  revenge.  Such  a  prosecution 
would  to  us  appear  ridiculous ;  yet,  if  we  may  rely 
upon  tradition,  there  have  been  formerly  proconsuls  in 
America,  though  of  more  malicious  dispositions,  hardly 
superior  in  understanding  to  the  consul  Incitatus,  and 
who  would  have  thought  themselves  libelled  to  be 
called  by  their  proper  names. 

Nero  piqued  himself  on  his  fine  voice  and  skill  in 
music  ;  no  doubt  a  laudable  ambition  !  He  performed 
in  public,  and  carried  the  prize  of  excellence ;  it  was 
afterwards  resolved  by  all  the  judges  as  good  law,  that 
whosoever  would  insinuate  the  least  doubt  of  Nero's 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  287 

preeminence  in  the  noble  art  of  fiddling,  ought  to  be 
deemed  a  traitor  to  the  state. 

By  the  help  of  inferences,  and  inuendoes,  treasons 
multiplied  in  a  prodigious  manner.  Grief  was  treason  ; 
a  lady  of  noble  birth  was  put  to  death  for  bewailing  the 
death  of  her  murdered  son ;  silence  was  declared  an  overt 
act,  to  prove  the  treasonable  purposes  of  the  heart ;  looks 
were  construed  into  treason  ;  a  serene,  open  aspect  was 
an  evidence,  that  the  person  was  pleased  with  the  ca- 
lamities that  befell  the  emperor ;  a  severe,  thoughtful 
countenance  was  urged  against  the  man  that  wore  it,  as 
a  proof  of  his  plotting  against  the  state ;  dreams  were 
often  made  capital  offences.  A  new  species  of  inform- 
ers went  about  Rome,  insinuating  themselves  into  all 
companies  to  fish  out  their  dreams,  which  the  holy 
priests  (O  nefarious  wickedness  !)  interpreted  into  high 
treason.  The  Romans  were  so  terrified  by  this  strange 
method  of  juridical  and  penal  process,  that,  far  from 
discovering  their  dreams,  they  durst  not  own  that  they 
slept.  In  this  terrible  situation,  when  every  one  had  so 
much  cause  to  fear,  even  fear  itself  was  made  a  crime. 
Caligula,  when  he  put  his  brother  to  death,  gave  it  as  a 
reason  to  the  senate,  that  the  youth  was  afraid  of  being 
murdered.  To  be  eminent  in  any  virtue,  either  civil  or 
military,  was  the  greatest  crime  a  man  could  be  guilty 
of.  0  virtutes,  certissimum  exitium. 

These  were  some  of  the  effects  of  the  Roman  law 
against  libelling.  Those  of  the  British  kings,  that  aimed 
at  despotic  power  or  the  oppression  of  the  subject, 
continually  encouraged  prosecutions  for  words. 

Henry  the  Seventh,  a  prince  mighty  in  politics,  pro- 
cured that  act  to  be  passed,  whereby  the  jurisdiction  of 
the  Star-chamber  was  confirmed  and  extended.  After- 
wards Empson  and  Dudley,  two  voracious  dogs  of 
prey,  under  the  protection  of  this  high  court,  exercised 
the  most  merciless  acts  of  ODDression.  The  subjects 


288  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

were  terrified  from  uttering  their  griefs,  while  they  saw 
the  thunder  of  the  Star-chamber  pointed  at  their  heads. 
This  caution,  however,  could  not  prevent  several 
dangerous  tumults  and  insurrections;  for,  when  the 
tongues  of  the  people  are  restrained,  they  commonly 
discharge  their  resentments  by  a  more  dangerous 
organ,  and  break  out  into  open  acts  of  violence. 

During  the  reign  of  Henry  the  Eighth,  a  high-spirited 
monarch,  every  light  expression,  which  happened  to 
displease  him,  was  construed  by  his  supple  judges  into 
a  libel,  and  sometimes  extended  to  high  treason.  When 
Queen  Mary,  of  cruel  memory,  ascended  the  throne,  the 
Parliament,  in  order  to  raise  a  fence  against  the  violent 
prosecutions  for  words,  which  had  rendered  the  lives, 
liberties,  and  properties  of  all  men  precarious,  and  per- 
haps dreading  the  furious,  persecuting  spirit  of  this  prin- 
cess, passed  an  act  whereby  it  was  declared,  "  That  if 
a  libeller  doth  go  so  high,  as  to  libel  against  king  or 
queen,  by  denunciation,  the  judges  shall  lay  no  greater 
fine  on  him  than  one  hundred  pounds,  with  two  months' 
imprisonment,  and  no  corporal  punishment.  Neither 
was  this  sentence  to  be  passed  on  him,  except  the  ac- 
cusation was  fully  proved  by  two  witnesses,  who  were 
to  produce  a  certificate  of  their  good  demeanor  for  the 
credit  of  their  report." 

This  act  was  confirmed  by  another,  in  the  seventh 
year  of  the  reign  of  Queen  Elizabeth ;  only  the  penalties 
were  heightened  to  two  hundred  pounds  and  three 
months'  imprisonment.  Notwithstanding,  she  rarely 
punished  invectives,  though  the  malice  of  the  Papists 
was  indefatigable  in  blackening  the  brightest  characters 
with  the  most  impudent  falsehood.  She  was  often  heard 
to  applaud  that  rescript  of  Theodosius;*  "If  any  person 

*  "Si  quis  Imperatori  malediceret,  non  statim  injuria  censetur  et  eo  no- 
mine punitur ;  sed  distinguitur,  an  ex  levitate  processerit,  et  sic  contem- 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  289 

speak  ill  of  the  Emperor,  through  a  foolish  rashness  and 
inadvertency,  it  is  to  be  despised  ;  if  out  of  madness,  it 
deserves  pity ;  if  from  malice  and  aversion,  it  calls  for 
mercy." 

Her  successor,  King  James  the  First,  was  a  prince  of  a 
quite  different  genius  and  disposition.  He  used  to  say, 
that,  while  he  had  the  power  of  making  judges  and 
bishops,  he  could  have  what  law  and  gospel  he  pleased. 
Accordingly,  he  filled  those  places  with  such  as  pro- 
stituted their  professions  to  his  notions  of  prerogative. 
Among  this  number,  and  I  hope  it  is  no  discredit  to  the 
profession  of  the  law,  its  great  oracle,  Sir  Edward 
Coke,  appears.  The  Star-chamber,  which,  in  the  time 
of  Elizabeth,  had  gained  a  good  repute,  became  an  in- 
tolerable grievance  in  the  reign  of  this  learned  monarch. 

But  it  did  not  arrive  at  its  meridian  altitude  till 
Charles  the  First  began  to  wield  the  sceptre.  As  he 
had  formed  a  design  to  lay  aside  parliaments,  and 
subvert  the  popular  part  of  the  constitution,  he  very  well 
knew,  that  the  form  of  government  could  not  be  altered 
without  laying  a  restraint  on  freedom  of  speech  and 
the  liberty  of  the  press ;  therefore  he  issued  his  royal 
mandate,  under  jthe  great  seal  of  England,  whereby  he 
commanded  his  subjects,  under  pain  of  his  displeasure, 
not  to  prescribe  to  him  any  time  for  parliaments.  Lord 
Clarendon,  upon  this  occasion,  is  pleased  to  write, 
"  That  all  men  took  themselves  to  be  prohibited, 
under  the  penalty  of  censure  (the  censure  of  the  Star- 

nitur,  an  ex  insania,  et  miseratione  digna  censetur,  an  ex  injuria,  et  sic 
remittenda  declarator." 

Note.  A  rescript  was  an  answer  delivered  by  the  emperor,  when  con 
suited  on  some  difficult  question  or  point  in  law.  The  judges  were  wholly 
to  be  directed  by  it,  whenever  such  a  case  came  before  them.  For  "  Thi 
voice  of  the  king  gives  vigor  to  the  law,"  ( Voluntas  regis  habet  vigorem 
tegis,)  is  a  fundamental  principle  in  the  civil  law.  The  rescript,  mentioned 
above,  was  not  only  delivered  by  Theodosius,  but  by  two  other  emperors. 
Honorius  and  Arcadius. 

VOL.    II.  19 


290  FRANKLliN'S   WRITINGS. 

chamber,  which  few  men  cared  to  incur,)  so  much  as 
to  speak  of  parliaments,  or  so  much  as  to  mention, 
that  parliaments  were  again  to  be  called." 

The  king's  ministers,  to  let  the  nation  see  they  were 
absolutely  determined  to  suppress  all  freedom  of  speech, 
caused  a  prosecution  to  be  carried  on  by  the  attorney- 
general  against  three  members  of  the.  House  of  Com- 
mons, for  words  spoken  in  that  House,  Anno  1628. 
The  members  pleaded  to  the  information,  that  expres- 
sions in  Parliament  ought  only  to  be  examined  and 
punished  there.  This  notwithstanding,  they  were  all 
three  condemned  as  disturbers  of  the  state.  One  of 
these  gentlemen,  Sir  John  Eliott,  was  fined  two  thou- 
sand pounds,  and  sentenced  to  lie  in  prison  till  it  was 
paid.  His  lady  was  denied  admittance  to  him,  even 
during  his  sickness  ;  consequently  his  punishment  com- 
prehended an  additional  sentence  of  divorce.  This 
patriot,  having  endured  many  years'  imprisonment,  sunk 
under  the  oppression,  and  died  in  prison.  This  was 
such  a  wound  to  the  authority  and  rights  of  Parliament, 
that,  even  after  the  restoration,  the  judgment  was  re- 
versed by  Parliament. 

That  Englishmen  of  all  ranks  might  be  effectually 
intimidated  from  publishing  their  thoughts  on  any  sub- 
ject, except  on  the  side  of  the  court,  his  Majesty's  min- 
isters caused  an  information,  for  several  libels,  to  be 
exhibited  in  the  Star-chamber  against  Messrs.  Prynne, 
Burton,  and  Bastwick.  They  were  each  of  them  fined 
five  thousand  pounds,  and  adjudged  to  lose  their  ears 
on  the  pillory,  to  be  branded  on  the  cheeks  with  hot 
irons,  and  to  suffer  perpetual  imprisonment !  Thus 
these  three  gentlemen,  each  of  worth  and  quality  in 
their  several  professions,  viz.  divinity,  law,  and  physic, 
were,  for  no  other  offence,  than  writing  on  controvert- 
ed points  of  church-government,  exposed  on  public 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  291 

scaffolds,  and  stigmatized  and  mutilated  as  common 
signal  rogues,  or  the  most  ordinary  malefactors. 

Such  corporal  punishments,  inflicted  with  all  the 
circumstances  of  cruelty  and  infamy,  bound  down  all 
other  gentlemen,  under  a  servile  fear  of  the  like  treat- 
ment ;  so  that  for  several  years  no  one  durst  publicly 
speak  or  write  in  defence  of  the  liberties  of  the  peo- 
ple, which  the  king's  ministers,  his  privy  council,  and 
his  judges  had  trampled  under  their  feet.  The  spirit 
of  the  administration  looked  hideous  and  dreadful ;  the 
hate  and  resentment,  which  the  people  conceived  against 
it,  for  a  long  time  lay  smothered  in  their  breasts,  where 
those  passions  festered  and  grew  venomous,  and  at  last 
discharged  themselves  by  an  armed  and  vindictive 
hand. 

King  Charles  the  Second  aimed  at  the  subversion  of 
the  government,  but  concealed  his  designs  under  a 
deep  hypocrisy  ;  a  method  which  his  predecessor,  in 
the  beginning  of  his  reign,  scorned  to  make  use  of. 
The  father,  who  affected  a  high  and  rigid  gravity,  dis- 
countenanced all  barefaced  immorality.  The  son,  of  a 
gay,  luxurious  disposition,  openly  encouraged  it.  Thus, 
their  inclinations  being  different,  the  restraint  laid  on 
some  authors,  and  the  encouragement  given  to  others, 
were  managed  after  a  different  manner. 

In  this  reign  a  licenser  was  appointed  for  the  stage 
and  the  press ;  no  plays  were  encouraged  but  what  had 
a  tendency  to  debase  the  minds  of  the  people.  The 
original  design  of  comedy  was  perverted ;  it  appeared 
in  all  the  shocking  circumstances  of  immodest  double 
entendre,  obscene  description,  and  lewd  representation. 
Religion  was  sneered  out  of  countenance,  and  public 
spirit  ridiculed  as  an  awkward,  old-fashioned  virtue;  the 
fine  gentleman  of  the  comedy,  though  embroidered  all 
over  with  wit,  was  a  consummate  debauchee  ;  and  a 
fine  lady,  though  set  off  with  a  brilliant  imagination,  was 


FRANKLIN'S     WRITINGS. 

an  impudent  coquette.  Satire,  which  in  the  hands  oi 
Horace,  Juvenal,  and  Boileau,  was  pointed  with  a  gener- 
ous resentment  against  vice,  now  became  the  declared 
foe  of  virtue  and  innocence.  As  the  city  of  London,  in 
all  ages,  as  well  as  the  time  we  are  speaking  of,  was 
remarkable  for  its  opposition  to  arbitrary  power,  the 
poets  levelled  all  their  artillery  against  the  metropolis,  in 
order  to  bring  the  citizens  into  contempt.  An  alder- 
man was  never  introduced  on  the  theatre,  but  under 
the  complicated  character  of  a  sneaking,  canting  hypo- 
crite, a  miser  and  a  cuckold  ;  while  the  court  wits, 
with  impunity,  libelled  the  most  valuable  part  of  the 
nation.  Other  writers,  of  a  different  stamp,  with  great 
learning  and  gravity,  endeavoured  to  prove  to  the  Eng- 
lish people,  that  slavery  was  jure  divino.  Thus  the 
stage  and  the  press,  under  the  direction  of  a  licenser, 
became  battering  engines  against  religion,  virtue,  and 
liberty.  Those  who  had  courage  enough  to  write  in 
their  defence  were  stigmatized  as  schismatics,  and 
punished  as  disturbers  of  the  government. 

But  when  the  embargo  on  wit  was  taken  off,  Sir 
Richard  Steele  and  Mr.  Addison  soon  rescued  the  stage 
from  the  load  of  impurity  it  labored  under ;  with  an 
inimitable  address,  they  strongly  recommended  to  our 
imitation  the  most  amiable,  rational,  manly  characters ; 
and  this  with  so  much  success,  that  I  cannot  suppose 
there  is  any  reader  to-day  conversant  in  the  writings  of 
those  gentlemen,  that  can  taste  with  any  tolerable  relish 
the  comedies  of  the  once  admired  Shadwell.  Vice  was 
obliged  to  retire  and  give  place  to  virtue.  This  will 
always  be  the  consequence  when  truth  has  fair  play. 
Falsehood  only  dreads  the  attack,  and  cries  out  for 
auxiliaries.  Truth  never  fears  the  encounter;  she 
scorns  the  aid  of  the  secular  arm,  and  triumphs  by  her 
natural  strength. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  293 

But  to  resume  the  description  of  the  reign  of  Charles 
the  Second.  The  doctrine  of  servitude  was  chiefly 
managed  by  Sir  Roger  L'Estrange.  He  had  great  ad- 
vantages in  the  argument,  being  licenser  for  the  press, 
and  might  have  carried  all  before  him,  without  contra- 
diction, if  writings  on  the  other  side  of  the  question  had 
not  been  printed  by  stealth.  The  authors,  whenever 
found,  were  prosecuted  as  seditious  libellers.  On  all 
these  occasions,  the  king's  counsel,  particularly  Sawyer 
and  Finch,  appeared  most  abjectly  obsequious  to  ac- 
complish the  ends  of  the  court. 

During  this  blessed  management,  the  King  had  enter- 
ed into  a  secret  league  with  France,  to  render  himself 
absolute,  and  enslave  his  subjects.  This  fact  was  dis- 
covered to  the  world  by  Dr.  Jonathan  Swift,  to  whom 
Sir  William  Temple  had  entrusted  the  publication  of  his 
works. 

Sidney,  the  sworn  foe  of  tyranny,^  was  a  gentleman 
of  noble  family,  of  sublime  understanding,  and  exalted 
courage.  The  ministry  were  resolved  to  remove  so 
great  an  obstacle  out  of  the  way  of  their  designs.  He 
was  prosecuted  for  high  treason.  The  overt  act  charg- 
ed in  the  indictment,  was  a  libel  found  in  his  private 
study.  Mr.  Finch,  the  king's  own  solicitor-general, 
urged,  with  great  vehemency,  to  this  effect ;  "  That 
the  imagining  the  death  of  the  king  is  treason,  even 
while  that  imagination  remains  concealed  in  the  mind  ; 
though  the  law  cannot  punish  such  secret  treasonable 
thoughts,  till  it  arrives  at  the  knowledge  of  them  by 
some  overt  act.  That  the  matter  of  the  libel  composed 
by  Sidney  was  an  imagining  liow  to  compass  tlie  death 
of  King  Charles  the  Second ;  and  the  writing  of  it  was 
an  overt  act  of  the  treason ;  for,  that  to  write  was  to  act ; 
scribere  est  agere"  It  seems  that  the  king's  counsel,  in 
this  reign  had  not  received  the  same  direction  as  Queen 


294  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

Elizabeth  had  given  hers ;  she  told  them  they  were  to 
look  upon  themselves  as  retained,  not  so  much  pro  dom- 
ind  regind,  as  pro  domind  veritate,  —  for  the  power  of 
the  Queen,  as  for  the  power  of  truth. 

Mr.  Sidney  made  a  strong  and  legal  defence.  He 
insisted  that  all  the  words  in  the  book  contained  no 
more  than  general  speculations  on  the  principles  of  gov- 
ernment, free  for  any  man  to  write  down ;  especially 
since  the  same  are  written  in  the  Parliament  rolls  and 
the  statute  laws. 

He  argued  on  the  injustice  of  applying  by  inuendoes, 
general  assertions  concerning  principles  of  government, 
as  overt  acts,  to  prove  the  writer  was  compassing  the 
death  of  the  king ;  for  then  no  man  could  write  of 
things  done  even  by  our  ancestors,  in  defence  of  the 
constitution  and  freedom  of  England,  without  exposing 
himself  to  capital  danger. 

He  denied  that  scribere  est  agere,  but  allowed  that 
writing  and  publishing  is  to  act,  scribere  et  publicare  est 
agere  ;  and  therefore  he  urged,  that,  as  his  book  had 
never  been  published  nor  imparted  to  any  person,  it 
could  not  be  an  overt  act,  within  the  statutes  of  trea- 
sons, even  admitting  that  it  contained  treasonable  posi- 
tions ;  that,  on  the  contrary,  it  was  a  covert  fact,  locked 
up  in  his  private  study,  as  much  concealed  from  the 
knowledge  of  any  man,  as  if  it  were  locked  up  in  the 
author's  mind.  This  was  the  substance  of  Mr.  Sid- 
ney's defence.  But  neither  law,  nor  reason,  nor  elo- 
quence, nor  innocence,  ever  availed  where  Jeffreys  sat 
as  judge.  Without  troubling  himself  with  any  part  of 
the  defence,  he  declared  in  a  rage,  that  Sidney's  known 
principles  were  a  sufficient  proof  of  his  intention  to 
compass  the  death  of  the  king. 

A  packed  jury,  therefore,  found  him  guilty  of  high 
treason.  Great  applications  were  made  for  his  pardon, 
He  was  executed  as  a  traitor. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  295 

This  case  is  a  pregnant  instance  of  the  danger  that 
attends  a  law  for  punishing  words,  and  of  the  little  se- 
curity the  most  valuable  men  have  for  their  lives,  in  that 
society  where  a  judge,  by  remote  inferences  and  distant 
inuendoes,  may  construe  the  most  innocent  expressions 
into  capital  crimes.  Sidney,  the  British  Brutus,  the 
warm,  the  steady  friend  of  liberty,  who,  from  a  diffusive 
love  to  mankind,  left  them  that  invaluable  legacy,  his 
immortal  "  Discourses  on  Government,"  was  for  these 
very  Discourses  murdered  by  the  hands  of  lawless  power. 

After  the  revolution  of  1688,  when  law  and  justice 
were  again  restored,  the  attainder  of  this  great  man  was 
reversed  by  Parliament. 

"  Being  in  Holland,"  says  bishop  Burnet,  "  the  Prin- 
cess of  Orange,  afterwards  Queen  Mary,  asked  me  what 
had  sharpened  the  king  her  father  so  much  against  Mr. 
Jurieu?  I  told  her  he  had  writ  with  great  indecency 
of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots,  which  cast  reflections  on  them 
that  were  descended  from  her.  The  Princess  said, 
Jurieu  was  to  support  the  cause  he  defended,  and  to 
expose  those  that  persecuted  it,  in  the  best  way  he 
could ;  and  if  what  he  said  of  Mary,  Queen  of  Scots, 
was  true,  he  was  not  to  be  blamed  who  made  that  use 
of  it;  and  she  added,  that,  if  princes  would  do  ill 
things,  they  must  expect  that  the  world  will  take 
revenge  on  their  memories,  since  they  cannot  reach 
their  persons.  That  was  but  a  small  suffering,  far  short 
of  what  others  suffered  at  their  hands." 

In  the  former  part  of  this  paper  it  was  endeavoured 
to  prove  by  historical  facts,  the  fatal  dangers  that  neces- 
sarily attend  a  restraint  of  freedom  of  speech  and  the 
liberty  of  the  press;  upon  which  the  following  reflec- 
tion naturally  occurs,  viz.  that  whoever  attempts  to 
suppress  either  of  these  our  natural  rights,  ought  to  be 
regarded  as  an  enemy  to  liberty  and  the  constitution. 


296  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

An  inconveniency  is  always  to  be  suffered,  when  it 
cannot  be  removed  without  introducing  a  worse. 

I  proceed,  in  the  next  place,  to  inquire  into  the  nature 
of  the  English  laws  in  relation  to  libelling.  To  acquire 
a  just  idea  of  them,  the  knowledge  of  history  is  neces- 
sary, and  the  genius  and  disposition  of  the  prince  is  to 
be  considered,  in  whose  time  they  are  introduced  and 
put  in  practice. 

To  infuse  into  the  minds  of  the  people  an  ill  opinion 
of  a  just  administration  is  a  crime,  that  deserves  no 
indulgence ;  but  to  expose  the  evil  designs  or  weak 
management  of  a  magistrate  is  the  duty  of  every  mem- 
ber of  society.  Yet  King  James  the  First  thought  it  an 
unpardonable  presumption  in  the  subject  to  pry  into  the 
arcana  imperil,  the  secrets  of  kings.  He  imagined,  that 
the  people  ought  to  believe  the  authority  of  the  govern- 
ment infallible,  and  that  their  submission  should  be 
implicit.  It  may  therefore  be  reasonably  presumed,  that 
the  judgment  of  the  Star-chamber  concerning  libels 
was  influenced  by  this  monarch's  notions  of  govern- 
ment. No  law  could  be  better  framed  to  prevent 
people  from  publishing  their  thoughts  on  the  adminis- 
tration, than  that  which  makes  no  distinction,  whether 
a  libel  be  true  or  false.  It  is  not  pretended  that  any 
such  decision  is  to  be  found  in  our  books,  before  this 
reign.  That  is  not  at  all  to  be  wondered  at ;  King 
James  was  the  first  of  the  British  monarchs,  that  laid 
claim  to  a  divine  right. 

It  was  a  refined  piece  of  policy  in  Augustus  Caesar, 
when  he  proposed  a  law  to  the  senate,  whereby  in- 
vectives against  private  men  were  to  be  punished  as 
treason.  The  pill  was  finely  gilded  and  easily  swal- 
lowed ;  but  the  Romans  soon  found  that  the  preserva- 
tion of  their  characters  was  only  a  pretext;  to  preserve 
inviolable  the  sacred  name  of  Caesar  was  the  real 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  297 

design  of  the  law.  They  quickly  discovered  the 
intended  consequence  ;  if  it  be  treason  to  libel  a  private 
person,  it  cannot  be  less  than  blasphemy  to  speak  ill 
of  the  emperor. 

Perhaps  it  may  not  appear  a  too  refined  conjecture, 
that  the  Star-chamber  acted  on  the  same  views  with 
Augustus,  when  they  gave  that  decision  which  made  it 
criminal  to  publish  truth  of  a  private  person  as  well  as 
a  magistrate.  I  am  the  more  inclined  to  this  conjec- 
ture from  a  passage  in  Lord  Chief  Justice  Richardson's 
speech,  which  I  find  in  the  trial  in  the  Star-chamber 
against  Mr.  Prynne,  who  was  prosecuted  there  for  a 
libel.  "  If  subjects  have  an  ill  prince, "  says  the  judge, 
"  marry,  what  is  the  remedy  1  They  must  pray  to  God 
to  forgive  him.  Mr.  Prynne  saith  there  icere  three 
worthy  Romans,  that  conspired  to  murder  Nero.  This 
is  most  horrible. " 

Tremendous  wickedness  indeed,  my  Lord  Chief  Jus- 
tice !  Where  slept  the  thunder,  when  these  three 
detestable  Romans,  unawed  by  the  sacred  majesty  of 
the  diadem,  with  hands  sacrilegious  and  accursed,  took 
away  the  precious  life  of  that  imperial  wolf,  that  true 
epitome  of  the  Lord's  anointed,  who  had  murdered  his 
own  mother,  who  had  put  to  death  Seneca  and 
Burrhus,  his  two  best  friends  and  benefactors ;  who 
was  drenched  in  the  blood  of  mankmd,  and  wished  and 
endeavoured  to  extirpate  the  human  race  ?  I  think  my 
Lord  Chief  Justice  has  clearly  explained  the  true  intent 
and  meaning  of  the  Star-chamber  doctrine;  it  centres 
in  the  most  abjectly  passive  obedience. 

The  punishment  for  writing  truth,  is  pillory,  loss  of 
ears,  branding  the  face  with  hot  irons,  fine,  and  im- 
prisonment, at  the  discretion  of  the  court.  Nay,  the  pun- 
ishment is  to  be  heightened  in  proportion  to  the  truth  of 
the  facts  contained  in  the  libel.  But,  if  this  monstrous 


298  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

doctrine  could  have  been  swallowed  down  by  that 
worthy  jury,  who  were  on  the  trial  of  the  seven  bishops, 
prosecuted  for  a  libel  in  the  reign  of  James  the  Second, 
the  liberties  of  Britain,  in  all  human  probability,  had 
been  lost,  and  slavery  established  in  the  three  kingdoms. 

This  was  a  cause  of  the  greatest  expectation  and 
importance  that  ever  came  before  the  judges  in  West- 
minster-hall. 

The  bishops  had  petitioned  the  king,  that  he  would 
be  graciously  pleased  not  to  insist  upon  their  reading 
in  the  church  his  Majesty's  declaration  for  liberty  of 
conscience,  because  it  was  founded  on  a  dispensing 
power,  declared  illegal  in  Parliament;  and  they  said, 
that  they  could  not,  in  prudence,  honor,  or  conscience, 
so  far  make  themselves  parties  to  it.  In  the  information 
exhibited  by  the  attorney-general,  the  bishops  were 
charged  with  writing  and  publishing  a  false,  malicious, 
and  seditious  libel  (under  pretence  of  a  petition),  in 
diminution  of  the  king's  prerogative,  and  contempt  of 
his  government. 

Sawyer  and  Finch  were  among  the  bishops'  counsel ; 
the  former  had  been  attorney,  the  latter  solicitor-genei-al. 
In  these  stations  they  had  served  the  court  only  too 
well.  They  were  turned  out  because  they  refused  to 
support  the  dispensing  power.  Powis  and  Williams, 
who  stood  in  their  places,  had  great  advantages  over 
them,  by  reflecting  on  the  precedents  and  proceedings, 
while  those  were  of  the  king's  counsel.  "  What  was 
good  law  for  Sidney  and  others,  ought  to  be  law  for  the 
bishops ;  God  forbid,  that  in  a  court  of  justice  any  such 
distinction  should  be  made." 

Williams  took  very  indecent  liberties  with  the  pre- 
lates, who  were  obliged  to  appear  in  court;  he  re- 
proached them  with  acting  repugnant  to  their  doctrine 
of  passive  obedience;  he  reminded  them  of  their 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  299 

preaching  against  himself,  and  stirring  up  their  clergy 
to  libel  him  in  their  sermons.  For  Williams  had  been 
for  many  years  a  bold  pleader  in  all  causes  against  the 
court.  He  had  been  Speaker  in  two  successive  par- 
liaments, and  a  zealous  promoter  of  the  bill  of  exclusion. 
Jeffreys  had  fined  him  ten  thousand  pounds  for  having 
licensed,  in  the  preceding  reign,  by  virtue  of  an  order 
of  the  House  of  Commons,  the  printing  of  Dangerfield's 
Narrative,  which  charged  the  Duke  of  York  with  con- 
spiracies of  a  black  complexion.  This  gentleman  had 
no  principles,  was  guided  by  his  own  interests,  and 
so  wheeled  about  to  the  court.  The  king's  counsel 
having  produced  their  evidences  as  to  the  publication  of 
the  petition,  the  question  then  to  be  debated  was, 
whether  it  contained  libellous  matter  or  not. 

It  was  argued  in  substance  for  the  bishops,  that  the 
matter  could  not  be  libellous,  because  it  was  true ;  Sir 
Robert  Sawyer  makes  use  of  the  words  false  and  libel- 
lous, as  synonymous  terms,  through  the  whole  course  of 
his  argument ;  and  so  does  Mr.  Finch ;  accordingly  they 
proceeded  to  show  by  the  votes  and  journals  of  the 
Parliament,  which  were  brought  from  the  Tower  to  the 
court,  that  the  kings  of  England,  in  no  age,  had  any 
power  to  dispense  with  or  set  aside  the  laws  of  the 
land ;  and,  consequently,  the  bishops'  petition,  which 
denied  that  his  Majesty  had  any  dispensing  power, 
could  not  be  false,  nor  libellous,  nor  in  contempt  or 
diminution  of  the  king's  prerogative,  as  no  such  power 
was  ever  annexed  to  it.  This  was  the  foundation  laid 
down  through  the  whole  course  of  the  debate,  and 
which  guided  and  governed  the  verdict. 

It  was  strongly  urged  in  behalf  of  the  king,  that  the 
only  point  to  be  looked  into  was,  whether  the  libel  be 
reflecting  or  scandalous,  and  not  whether  it  be  true  or 
false ;  that  the  bishops  had  injured  and  affronted  the 


300  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

king  by  presuming  to  prescribe  to  him  their  opinions 
in  matters  of  government;  that,  under  pretence  of 
delivering  a  petition,  they  come  and  tell  his  Majesty 
he  has  commanded  an  illegal  thing;  that,  by  such  a 
proceeding,  they  threw  dirt  in  the  king's  face,  and  so 
were  libellers  with  a  witness. 

Previous  to  the  opinions  of  the  judges,  it  will  be 
necessary  to  give  the  reader  a  short  sketch  of  their 
characters.  Wright  was  before  on  the  bench,  and  made 
chief  justice,  as  a  proper  tool  to  support  the  dispensing 
power.  Rapin,  mentioning  this  trial,  calls  Holloway  a 
creature  of  the  court ;  but  that  excellent  historian  \vas 
mistaken  in  this  particular.  Powell  was  a  judge  of 
obstinate  integrity ;  his  obstinacy  gained  him  immortal 
honor.  Allibone  was  a  professed  Papist,  and  had  not 
taken  the  tests ;  consequently  he  was  no  judge,  and  his 
opinion  of  no  authority.  Wright,  in  his  charge,  called 
the  petition  a  libel,  and  declared  that  any  thing  which 
disturbs  the  government  is  within  the  case  de  libellis 
famosis,  (the  Star-chamber  doctrine.)  Holloway  told 
the  jury,  that  the  end  and  intention  of  every  action  is  to 
be  considered ;  and  that,  as  the  bishops  had  no  ill  inten- 
tion in  delivering  their  petition,  it  could  not  be  deemed 
malicious  or  libellous.  Powell  declared,  that  falsehood 
and  malice  were  two  essential  qualities  of  a  libel,  which 
the  prosecutor  is  obliged  to  prove.  Allibone  replied 
upon  Powell,  that  we  are  not  to  measure  things  from 
any  truth  they  have  in  themselves,  but  from  the  aspect 
they  have  on  the  government ;  for  that  every  tittle  of  a 
libel  may  be  true,  and  ye  t  be  a  libel  still. 

The  compass  of  this  paper  would  not  admit  me  to 
quote  the  opinion  of  the  judges  at  length  ;  but  I  have 
endeavoured,  with  the  strictest  regard  to  truth,  to  give 
the  substance  and  effect  of  them  as  I  read  them. 

It  has  been  generally   said,  that  the  judges  on  this 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  301 

trial  were  equally  divided  in  their  opinions;  but  we 
shall  find  a  majority  on  the  bench  in  favor  of  the 
bishops,  when  we  consider,  that  the  cause,  as  to  Alli- 
bone,  was  beyond  the  jurisdiction  of  the  court  (coram 
non  judice.) 

Here,  then,  is  a  late  authority,  which  sets  aside, 
destroys,  and  annuls  the  doctrine  of  the  Star-chamber, 
reported  by  Sir  Edward  Coke,  in  his  case  de  libellis 
famosis. 

Agreeable  to  this  late  impartial  decision  is  the  civil 
law  concerning  libels.  It  is  there  said,  that  the  calum- 
ny is  criminal  only  when  it  is  false,  Calumnmri  est  falsa 
crimina  dicere ;  and  not  criminal  when  it  is  true,  (vera- 
crimina  dicere  ;)  and  therefore  a  writing,  that  insinuates 
a  falsehood,  and  does  not  directly  assert  it,  cannot  come 
under  the  denomination  of  a  libel,  (J\bn  libellus  famosus 
quoad  accusationem,  quid  non  constat  directis  assertioni- 
bus,  in  quibus  venit  verum  out  falsum,  quod  omnino  requirit 
libellus  famosus.)  In  those  cases  where  the  design  to 
injure  does  not  evidently  appear  from  the  nature  of  the 
words,  the  intention  is  not  to  be  presumed ;  it  is  incum- 
bent on  the  plaintiff'  to  prove  the  malice ;  (Jlnimus  inju- 
riandi  non  prtzsumitur,  et  incumbit  injuriato  eum  probare.) 

These  resolutions  of  the  Roman  lawyers  bear  so  great 
a  conformity  with  the  sentiments  of  Powell  and  Hollo- 
way,  that  it  seems  they  had  them  in  view,  when  they 
gave  their  opinions.  Sir  Robert  Sawyer  makes  several 
glances  at  them  in  his  argument;  but,  throwing  that 
supposition  out  of  the  question,  natural  equity,  on  which 
the  civil  law  is  founded,  (the  principle  of  passive 
obedience  always  excepted,)  would  have  directed  any 
impartial  man  of  common  understanding  to  the  same 
decision. 

In  civil  actions,  an  advocate  should  never  appear  but 
when  he  is  persuaded  the  merits  of  the  cause  lie  on 


302  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

the  side  of  his  client.  In  criminal  actions,  it  often 
happens  that  the  defendant  in  strict  justice  deserves 
punishment;  yet  a  counsel  may  oppose  it  when  a 
magistrate  cannot  come  at  the  offender,  without  mak- 
ing a  breach  in  the  barriers  of  liberty,  and  opening 
a  flood-gate  to  arbitrary  power.  But,  when  the  defen- 
dant is  innocent,  and  unjustly  prosecuted,  his  counsel 
may,  nay  ought  to  take  all  advantages,  and  use  every 
stratagem,  that  skill,  art,  and  learning  can  furnish  him 
with.  This  last  was  the  case  of  Zenger,  at  New  York, 
as  appears  by  the  printed  trial  and  the  verdict  of  the 
jury.  It  was  a  popular  cause.  The  liberty  of  the 
press  in  that  province  depended  on  it.  On  such  oc- 
casions the  dry  rules  of  strict  pleading  are  never  ob- 
served. The  Counsel  for  the  defendant  sometimes-  ar- 
gues from  the  known  principles  of  law ;  then  raises  doubts 
and  difficulties,  to  confound  his  antagonist ;  now  applies 
himself  to  the  affections ;  and  chiefly  endeavours  to 
raise  the  passions.  Zenger's  defence  is  not  to  be  con- 
sidered in  all  those  different  lights ;  yet  a  gentleman  of 
Barbadoes  assures  us,  that  it  was  published  as  a 
solemn  argument  in  the  Laws,  and  therefore  writes  a 
very  elaborate  confutation  of  it. 

I  propose  to  consider  some  of  his  objections,  as  far 
as  they  interfere  with  the  freedom  of  speech  and  the 
liberty  of  the  press,  contended  for  in  this  paper. 

This  author  begun  his  remarks  by  giving  us  a  speci- 
men of  Mr.  Hamilton's  method  of  reasoning.  It  seems 
the  attorney-general  on  the  first  objected,  that  a  nega- 
tive could  not  be  proved ;  to  which  the  counsel  for 
Zenger  replied,  that  there  are  many  exceptions  to  that 
general  rule;  and  instanced  when  a  man  is  charged 
with  killing  another;  if  he  be  innocent,  he  may  prove 
the  man,  said  to  be  killed,  '/)  be  still  alive.  The  re- 
marker  will  not  allow  this  to  be  a  good  proof  of  the 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  303 

negative,  for,  says  he,  "  This  is  no  more  than  one  in- 
stance of  one  affirmative  being  destroyed  by  an- 
other, that  infers  a  negative  of  the  first."  It  cost  me 
some  time  to  find  out  the  meaning  of  this  superlative 
nonsense;  and  I  think  I  have  at  last  discovered  it. 
What  he  understands  by  the  first  affirmative,  is  the 
instance  of  the  man's  being  charged  with  killing 
another ;  the  second  affirmative  is  the  man's  being 
alive;  which  certainly  infers,  that  the  man  was  not 
killed;  which  is  undoubtedly  a  negative  of  the  first. 
But  the  remarker  of  Barbadoes  blunders  strangely. 
Mr.  Hamilton's  words  are  clear.  He  says,  the  party 
accused  is  on  the  negative,  viz.  that  he  did  not  kill ; 
which  he  may  prove  by  an  affirmative,  viz.  that  the 
man  said  to  be  killed  is  still  alive. 

Again.  "At  which  rate,"  continues  our  Barbadoes 
author,  "most  negatives  may  be  proved."  There  in- 
deed the  gentleman  happened  to  stumble  right;  for 
every  negative  capable  of  proof  can  only  be  proved 
after  the  same  manner,  namely,  by  an  affirmative. 
"  But  then,"  he  adds,  "  a  man  will  be  put  upon 
proving  he  did  not  kill,  because  such  proof  may  be 
had  sometimes,  and  so  the  old  rule  will  be  discarded." 
This  is  clearly  a  non  sequitur  (not  an  argument);  for, 
though  a  man  may  prove  a  negative,  if  he  finds  it  for 
his  advantage,  it  does  by  no  means  follow  that  he  shall 
be  obliged  to  do  it,  and  so  that  old  rule  will  be 
preserved. 

After  such  notable  instances  of  a  blundering,  unlogical 
head,  we  are  not  to  be  surprised  at  the  many  absurd- 
ities and  contradictions  of  this  author,  which  occur  in 
the  sequel  of  his  no-argument. 

But  I  shall  only  cite  those  passages  where  there  is  a 
probability  of  guessing  at  his  meaning;  for  he  has  so 
preposterously  jumbled  together  his  little  stock  of  ideas, 


304  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

that,  even  after  the  greatest  efforts,  I  could  find  but 
very  little  sense  or  coherence  in  them.  I  should  not, 
however,  have  discontinued  my  labor,  had  I  not  been 
apprehensive  of  the  fate  of  poor  Don  Quixote,  who  ran 
distracted  by  endeavouring  to  unbowel  the  sense  of  the 
following  passage ;  "  The  reason  of  your  unreasonable- 
ness, which  against  my  reason  is  wrought,  doth  so 
weaken  my  reason,  as  with  all  reason  I  do  justly  com- 
plain." There  are  several  profound  passages  in  the 
remarks,  not  a  whit  inferior  to  this.  This  dissertation  on 
the  negative  and  affirmative,  I  once  thought  to  be  an 
exact  counterpart  of  it. 

Our  author  labors  to  prove  that  a  libel,  whether  true 
or  false,  is  punishable.  The  first  authority  for  this  pur- 
pose is  the  case  of  John  de  Northampton,  adjudged  in 
the  reign  of  Edward  the  Third.  Northampton  had  wrote 
a  libellous  letter  to  one  of  the  king's  council,  purporting 
that  the  judges  would  do  no  great  things  at  the  com- 
mandment of  the  king,  &,c. ;  the  said  John  was  called, 
and  the  court  pronounced  judgment  against  him  on 
these  grounds,  that  the  letter  contained  no  truth  in  it, 
and  might  incense  the  king  against  his  judges.  Mr. 
Hamilton  says,  that  by  this  judgment  it  appears  the 
libellous  words  were  utterly  false,  and  that  the  falsehood 
was  the  crime,  and  is  the  ground  of  the  judgment. 
The  remarker  rejects  this  explanation,  and  gives  us  an 
ingenious  comment  of  his  own.  First,  he  says,  there  is 
neither  truth  nor  falsehood  in  the  words,  at  the  time 
they  were  wrote.  Secondly,  that  they  were  the  same 
as  if  John  had  said  the  roof  of  Westminster-hall  would 
fall  on  the  judges.  Thirdly,  that  the  words  taken  by 
themselves  have  no  ill  meaning.  Fourthly,  that  the 
judges  ought  to  do  their  duty,  without  any  respect  to 
the  king's  commandment  (they  are  sworn  so  to  do). 
Fifthly,  he  asks,  Where  then  was  the  offence  ?  He  an- 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  305 

swers,  sixthly,  The  record  shows  it.  Seventhly,  he  says 
that  the  author  of  the  letter  was  an  attorney  of  the 
court,  and,  by  the  contents  thereof,  (meaning  the  con- 
tents of  the  letter,  not  the  contents  of  the  court,)  he 
presumes  to  undertake  for  the  behaviour  of  the  judges. 
Eighthly,  that  the  letter  was  addressed  to  a  person  of 
the  king's  council.  Ninthly,  that  he  might  possibly 
communicate  it  to  the  king.  Tenthly,  that  it  might 
naturally  incense  the  king  against  the  court.  Eleventh- 
ly, that  great  things  were  done  in  those  days  by  the 
king's  commandment,  for  the  judges  held  their  post  at 
will  and  pleasure.  Twelfthly,  that  it  was  therefore 
proper  for  the  judges  to  assert,  that  the  letter  contained 
no  truth,  in  order  to  acquit  themselves  to  the  king. 
Thirteenthly,  that  the  judges  asserted  a  falsehood,  only 
to  acquit  themselves  to  his  Majesty,  because  what  they 
asserted  was  no  ground  of  their  judgment.  Four- 
teenthly,  and  lastly,  the  commentator  avers  (with  much 
modesty)  that  all  this  senseless  stuff  is  a  plain  and 
natural  construction  of  the  case ;  but  he  would  not  have 
us  take  it  wholly  on  his  own  word,  and  undertakes  to 
show  that  the  case  was  so  understood  by  Noy,  in  whose 
mouth  our  author  puts  just  such  becoming  nonsense 
as  he  entertained  us  with  from  himself. 

It  requires  no  great  penetration  to  make  this  discus- 
sion in  question  appear  reasonable  and  intelligible.  But 
it  ought  first  to  be  observed  that  Edward  the  Third  was 
one  of  the  best  and  wisest,  as  well  as  the  bravest  of  our 
kings,  and  that  the  law  had  never  a  freer  course  than 
under  his  reign.  Where  the  letter  mentions,  that  the 
judges  would  do  no  great  things  (that  is,  illegal  things) 
by  the  king's  commandment,  it  was  plainly  insinuated, 
that  the  judges  suspected  that  the  king  might  command 
them  to  do  illegal  things.  Now,  by  the  means  of  that 
letter,  the  king  being  led  to  imagine  that  the  judges 

VOL.    II.  20 


30<)  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

harboured  a  suspicion  so  unworthy  of  him,  might  be 
justly  incensed  against  them.  Therefore  the  record 
truly  says,  that  the  letter  was  utterly  false,  and  that 
there  was  couched  under  it,  an  insinuation  (certainly 
malicious),  that  might  raise  an  indignation  in  this  king 
against  the  court,  &,c.,  since  it  evidently  appears,  that, 
not  only  the  falsehood,  but  also  the  malice,  was  the 
ground  of  the  judgment. 

I  agree  with  the  remarker  that  Noy,  citing  this  case, 
says,  that  the  letter  contained  no  ill,  yet  the  writer  was 
punished ;  but  these  words  are  absolutely  as  they  stand 
in  the  remarks,  detached  from  the  context.  Noy  adduces 
Northampton's  case,  to  prove  that  a  man  is  punishable 
for  contemplating  without  a  cause,  though  the  words  of 
the  complaint  (simply  considered)  should  contain  no  ill 
in  them ;  it  is  not  natural  to  inquire  whether  the  applica- 
tion be  just ;  it  is  only  an  expression  of  a  counsel  at 
the  bar.  The  case  was  adjourned,  and  we  hear  no 
more  of  it.  Yet  these  words  of  Noy,  the  remarker 
would  pass  on  the  reader  as  a  good  authority.  "This 
book,  therefore/'  quoth  he,  referring  to  Godbolt's  Re- 
ports, "follows  the  record  of  Northampton's  case,  and 
says,  that  because  it  might  incense  the  king  against  the 
judges  he  was  punished ;  which  is  almost  a  translation 
of  Prtetextu  cujus"  &c.  I  could  readily  pardon  our 
author's  gibberish,  and  want  of  apprehension,  but  cannot 
so  easily  digest  his  insincerity. 

The  remarker  in  the  next  place  proceeds  to  the  trial 
of  the  seven  bishops;  I  shall  quote  his  own  words, 
though  I  know  they  are  so  senseless  and  insipid,  that 
I  run  the  risk  of  trespassing  on  the  reader's  patience ; 
however,  here  they  be ;  "  Mr.  Justice  Powell  also  does 
say,  that,  to  make  it  a  libel,  it  must  be  false,  it  must  be 
malicious,  and  it  must  tend  to  sedition.  Upon  which 
words  of  this  learned  and  worthy  judge,  I  would  not 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  30? 

presume  to  offer  any  comment,  except  that  which  other 
words  of  his  own  afford,  that  plainly  show  in  what 
sense  he  then  spoke.  His  subsequent  words  are  these, 
'  The  bishops  tell  his  Majesty,  it  is  not  out  of  averse- 
ness,'  &,c.  So  that  the  judge  put  the  whole  upon  that 
single  point,  whether  it  be  true  that  the  king  had  a 
dispensing  power  or  not;  which  is  a  question  of  law, 
and  not  of  fact ;  and  accordingly  the  judge  appeals  to 
his  own  reading  in  the  law,  not  to  witnesses  or  other 
testimonies,  for  a  decision  of  it." 

Now,  the  bishops  had  asserted  in  the  libel  they  were 
charged  with,  that  the  dispensing  power,  claimed  by  the 
king  in  his  declaration,  was  illegal.  The  remarker,  by 
granting  that  the  prelates  might  prove  part  of  their  as- 
sertion, viz.  that  the  dispensing  power  was  illegal,  which 
is  a  question  of  law,  necessarily  allows  them  to  prove 
the  other  part  of  their  assertion,  viz.  that  his  Majesty 
had  claimed  such  a  power,  which  is  a  question  of  fact ; 
for  the  former  could  not  be  decided  without  proving  or 
admitting  the  latter,  and  so  in  all  other  cases,  where  a 
man  publishes  of  a  magistrate,  that  he  has  acted  or 
commanded  an  illegal  thing,  if  the  defendant  shall  be 
admitted  to  prove  the  mode  or  illegality  of  the  thing, 
it  is  evidently  implied  that  he  may  prove  the  thing  it- 
self; so  that,  on  the  gentleman's  own  premises,  it  is  a 
clear  consequence,  that  a  man  prosecuted  for  a  libel, 
shall  be  admitted  to  give  the  truth  in  evidence.  The 
remarker  has  a  method  of  reasoning  peculiar  to  him- 
self; he  frequently  advances  arguments,  which  directly 
prove  the  very  point  he  is  laboring  to  confute. 

But,  in  truth,  Judge  Powell's  words  would  not  have 
given  the  least  color  to  such  a  ridiculous  distinction,  if 
they  had  been  fairly  quoted.  He  affirms,  with  the 
strongest  emphasis,  that,  to  make  it  a  libel,  it  must  be 
false,  it  must  be  malicious,  and  it  must  tend  to  sedition. 


308  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

Let  it  be  observed  that  these  three  qualities  of  a  libel 
against  the  government  are  in  the  conjunctive.  His  sub- 
sequent words  are  these,  "  As  to  the  falsehood,  I  see 
nothing  that  is  offered  by  the  king's  counsel ;  nor  any 
thing  as  to  the  malice."  Here  the  judge  puts  the  proof 
both  of  the  falsehood  and  the  malice  on  the  prosecutor ; 
and,  though  the  falsehood  'in  this  case  was  a  question  of 
law,  it  will  not  be  denied,  but  that  the  malice  was  a  ques- 
tion of  fact.  Now  shall  we  attribute  this  omission  to  the 
inadvertency  of  the  remarker?  No,  that  cannot  be 
supposed;  for  the"  sentence  immediately  followed. 
But  they  were  nailing,  decisive  words,  which,  if  they 
were  fairly  quoted,  had  put  an  end  to  the  dispute,  and 
left  the  remarker  without  the  least  room  for  evasion  ; 
and  therefore  he  very  honestly  dropped  them. 

Our  author  says  it  is  necessary  to  consult  Bracton,  in 
order  to  fix  our  idea  of  a  libel.  Now  Bracton,  through- 
out his  five  books  De  Legibus  et  Consuetudinibus 
jlnglue,  only  once  happened  to  mention  libels,  very 
perfunctorily.  He  says  no  more  than  that  a  man  may 
receive  an  injury  by  a  lampoon  and  things  of  that 
nature.  Fit  injuria  cum  de  eo  factum  carmen  famosum 
ct  hujusmodi.  Pray  how  is  any  person's  idea  of  a 
libel  the  better  fixed  by  this  description  of  it  ?  Our 
author  very  sagaciously  observes,  on  these  words  of 
Bracton;,  that  the  falsity  of  a  libel  is  neither  expressed 
nor  implied  by  them.  That  it  is  not  expressed,  is  self- 
evident  ;  but  that  it  is  not  implied,  we  have  only  the 
remarker's  ipse  dixit  for.it. 

But  it  was  really  idle  and  impertinent  to  draw  this 
ancient  lawyer  into  the  dispute,  as  nothing  could  be 
learned  from  him,  only  that  a  libel  is  an  injury,  which 
every  body  will  readily  grant.  I  have  good  ground  to 
suspect,  that  our  author  did  not  consult  Bracton  on  this 
occasion ;  the  passage,  cited  in  the  remarks,  i.s  liberally 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  309 

transcribed  from  Coke's  ninth  report,  folio  sixty  ;  by 
which  an  unlearned  reader  might  be  easily  led  to 
believe,  that  our  author  was  well  skilled  in  ancient 
learning  ;  ridiculous  affectation  and  pedantry  this. 

To  follow  the  remarker,  through  all  his  incoherencies 
and  absurdities,  would  be  irksome  ;  and  indeed  nothing 
is  more  vexatious  than  to  be  obliged  to  refute  lies  and 
nonsense.  Besides,  a  writer,  who  is  convicted  of  im- 
posing wilful  falsehoods  on  the  reader,  ought  to  be 
regarded  with  abhorrence  and  contempt.  It  is  for  this 
reason  I  have  treated  him  with  an  acrimony  of  style, 
which  nothing  but  his  malice  and  want  of  sincerity,  and 
not  his  ignorance,  his  dulness,  or  vanity,  could  have 
justified;  however,  as  to  the  precedents  and  proceed- 
ings against  libelling,  before  the  case  of  the  seven 
bishops,  he  ought  to  be  left  undisturbed  in  the  full 
enjoyment  of  the  honor  he  has  justly  acquired  by  tran- 
scribing them  from  commonplace  books  and  publishing 
them  in  gazettes.  Pretty  speculations  these  to  be 
inserted  in  newspapers,  especially  when  they  come 
clothed  and  loaded  under  the  jargon  and  tackle  of 
the  law. 

I  am  sure,  that  by  this  time  the  reader  must  be 
heartily  tired  with  the  little  I  have  offered  on  the 
subject,  though  I  have  endeavoured  to  speak  so  as  to  be 
understood  ;  yet  it  in  some  measure  appeared  necessary 
to  expose  the  folly  and  ignorance  of  this  author,  inas- 
much as  he  seemed  to  be  cherished  by  some  pernicious 
insects  of  the  profession,  who,  neglecting  the  noblest 
parts,  feed  on  the  rotten  branches  of  the  law. 

Besides,  the  liberty  of  the  press  would  be  wholly 
abolished,  if  the  remarker  could  have  propagated  the 
doctrine  of  punishing  truth.  Yet  he  declares  he  would 
not  be  thought  to  derogate  from  that  noble  privilege  ol 


310  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

a  free  people.  How  does  he  reconcile  these  contradic 
tions  ?  why  truly  thus ;  he  says,  that  the  liberty  of  the 
press  is  a  bulwark  and  two-edged  weapon,  capable  of 
cutting  two  ways,  and  is  only  to  be  trusted  in  the  hands 
of  men  of  wit  and  address,  and  not  with  such  fools  as 
rail  without  art.  I  pass  over  the  blunder  of  his  calling 
a  bulwark  a  two-edged  weapon,  for  a  lawyer  is  not 
supposed  to  be  acquainted  with  military  terms ;  but  is 
it  not  highly  ridiculous,  that  the  gentleman  will  not 
allow  a  squib  to  be  fired  from  the  bulwark  of  liberty, 
yet  freely  gives  permission  to  erect  on  it  a  battery  of 
cannon  ? 

Upon  the  whole,  to  suppress  inquiries  into  the  ad- 
ministration is  good  policy  in  an  arbitrary  government ; 
but  a  free  constitution  and  freedom  of  speech  have 
such  a  reciprocal  dependence  on  each  other,  that  they 
cannot  subsist  without  consisting  together.* 

*  The  evils  of  one  extreme  in  the  political  condition  of  society  in 
regard  to  libels  and  treasons,  as  in  other  things,  renders  men  blind  to 
those  of  the  opposite.  The  history  of  the  period  anterior  to  this  essay 
abounds  in  examples  of  the  evils  and  abuses  incident  to  the  laws  on 
these  subjects,  and  gave  rise  to  the  doctrine  maintained  in  the  text, 
that  nothing  short  of  an  absolute,  unbridled  licentiousness  of  the  press 
was  consistent  with  political  liberty.  Subsequent  experience  has  shown, 
that  the  tyranny  of  a  licentious  press  and  of  public  opinion  is  to  be 
dreaded,  on  the  one  hand,  as  well  as  that  of  monarchs  and  privileged 
classes  on  the  other.  The  modern  legislation  on  the  subject  of  libe] 
stops  far  short  of  the  doctrine  here  inculcated.  According  to  that  legis- 
lation, the  truth,  when  published  wantonly  and  from  malicious  motives,  for 
bad  purposes,  may  be  a  libel ;  and,  in  order  to  render  the  truth  of  a  pub- 
lication a  sufficient  justification,  it  must  appear  to  have  been  published 
from  justifiable  motives  and  for  justifiable  purposes.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  311 

OBSERVATIONS 

CONCERNING 
THE  INCREASE  OF  MANKIND  AND  THE  PEOPLING  OF  COUNTRIES. 

WRITTEN    IN    PENNSYLVANIA,    1751. 


In  the  year  1755  a  political  tract  was  published  in  Boston, 
entitled  "Observations  on  the  Late  and  Present  Conduct  of  the 
French  ;  "  which  was  written  by  William  Clarke,  and  dedicated  to 
Governor  Shirley.  To  this  pamphlet  the  following  paper  was 
appended.  Mr.  Clarke  says  in  his  preface ;  "  The.  Observations 
concerning  the  Increase  of  Mankind  were  \vritten  some  years 
ago ;  but  the  ingenious  author  would  never  suffer  them  to  be  made 
public  till  now,  when  he  has  been  prevailed  upon  to  consent  to  it 
by  some  of  his  friends,  who  thought  the  publication  of  them  would 
be  of  general  benefit  and  advantage."  In  1760  appeared  Franklin's 
pamphlet,  entitled  "  The  Interest  of  Great  Britain  considered,  with 
Regard  to  her  Colonies,"  published  in  London,  to  which  this  paper 
was  appended,  with  the  following  preliminary  notice.  "  In  con- 
firmation of  the  writer's  opinion  concerning  population,  manufac- 
tures, &c.,  he  has  thought  it  not  amiss  to  add  an  extract  from  a 
piece  written  some  years  since  in  America,  where  the  facts  must  be 
well  known,  on  which  the  reasonings  are  founded."  This  "  extract " 
is  all  that  has  usually  been  included  in  the  various  collections  of  the 
author's  writings.  The  whole  piece  is  printed  below,  as  originally 
contained  in  Mr.  Clarke's  pamphlet.  —  EDITOR. 


1.  TABLES  of  the  proportion  of  marriages  to  births,  of 
deaths  to  births,  of  marriages  to  the  number  of  inhabi- 
tants, &,c.,  formed  on  observations  made  upon  the  bills  of 
mortality,  christenings,  &c.,  of  populous  cities,  will  not 
suit  countries;  nor  will  tables  formed  on  observations, 


312  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

made  on  full-settled  old  countries,  as  Europe,  suit  new 
countries,  as  America.* 

2.  For  people  increase  in  proportion  to  the  number 
of  marriages,  and  that  is  greater  in  proportion  to  the 
ease  and  convenience  of  supporting  a  family.     When 
families  can  be  easily  supported,  more  persons  marry, 
and  earlier  in  life. 

3.  In  cities,  where  all  trades,  occupations,  and  offices 
are  full,  many  delay  marrying  till  they  can  see  how  to 
bear  the  charges  of  a  family ;  which  charges  are  greater 
in  cities,  as  luxury  is  more  common  ;  many  live  single 
during  life,  and  continue  servants  to  families,  journey- 
men to  trades,  &,c. ;  hence  cities   do  not,  by  natural 
generation,  supply    themselves    with    inhabitants ;    the 
deaths  are  more  than  the  births. 

4.  In  countries  full  settled,  the  case  must  be  nearly 
the  same  ;  all  lands  being  occupied  and  improved  to  the 
height,    those    who   cannot   get  land   must   labpr    for 
others   that   have   it;   when   laborers  are   plenty   their 
wages  will  be  low ;  by  low  wages  a  family  is  supported 
with  difficulty;    this  difficulty  deters  many  from  mar- 
riage, who  therefore  long  continue  servants  and  single. 
Only   as   the  cities  take  supplies  of  people  from  the 
country,  and  thereby  make  a  little  more  room  in  the 
country,  marriage   is   a  little  more   encouraged   there, 
and  the  births  exceed  the  deaths. 

5.  Europe  is  generally  full  settled  with  husbandmen, 
manufacturers,    &c.,   and  therefore  cannot   now  much 
increase   in   people.     America  is   chiefly  occupied   by 
Indians,  who  subsist  mostly  by  hunting.     But  as  the 
hunter,  of  all  men,  requires  the  greatest  quantity  of  land 

*  Nor  will  tables,  which  are  accurately  calculated  at  one  period,  neces- 
sarily continue  to  be  correct  in  the  same  country  at  another  period.  The 
chances  of  life  have  been  ascertained  to  be  greater  in  Europe  during  the 
last  half  cerf.ury,  than  they  were  formerly.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  313 

trom  whence  to  draw  his  subsistence,  (the  husbandman 
subsisting  on  much  less,  the  gardener  on  still  less,  and 
the  manufacturer  requiring  least  of  all,)  the  Europeans 
found  America  as  fully  settled  as  it  well  could  be  by 
hunters  ;  yet  these,  having  large  tracts,  were  easily  pre- 
vailed on  to  part  with  portions  of  territory  to  the  new 
comers,  who  did  not  much  interfere  with  the  natives  in 
hunting,  and  furnished  them  with  many  things  they 
wanted. 

6.  Land  being  thus  plenty  in  America,  and  so  cheap 
as  that  a   laboring  man,   that  understands  husbandry, 
can  in  a  short  time  save  money  enough  to  purchase  a 
piece  of  new  land  sufficient  for  a  plantation,  whereon 
he  may  subsist  a  family,  such  are  not  afraid  to  marry ; 
for,  if  they  even  look  far  enough  forward  to  consider 
how  their  children,  when  grown  up,  are  to  be  provided 
for,  they  see  that  more  land  is  to  be  had  at  rates  equally 
easy,  all  circumstances  considered. 

7.  Hence  marriages  in  America  are  more  general,  and 
more  generally   early    than   in   Europe.     And  if  it   is 
reckoned   there,   that   there   is   but   one  marriage  per 
annum  among  one  hundred  persons,  perhaps  we  may 
here  reckon  two ;  and  if  in  Europe  they  have  but  four 
births  to  a  marriage  (many  of  their  marriages  being  late), 
we  may  here  reckon  eight,  of  which,  if  one  half  grow 
up,  and  our  marriages  are  made,  reckoning  one  with 
another,  at  twenty  years  of  age,  our  people  must  at  least 
be  doubled  every  twenty  years. 

8.  But  notwithstanding  this  increase,  so  vast  is  the 
territory  of  North  America,  that  it  will  require  many 
ages  to  settle  it  fully ;  and,  till  it  is  fully  settled,  labor 
will  never  be  cheap  here,  where  no  man  continues  long 
a  laborer  for  others,  but  gets  a  plantation  of  his  own,  no 
man  continues  long  a  journeyman  to  a  trade,  but  goes 
among  those  new  settlers,  and  sets  up  for  himself,  &c. 


314  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

Hence  labor  is  no  cheaper  now  in  Pennsylvania,  than 
it  was  thirty  years  ago,  though  so  many  thousand 
laboring  people  have  been  imported. 

9.  The  danger  therefore  of  these  colonies  interfering 
with   their  mother  country  in  trades  that  depend  on 
labor,  manufactures,  &,c.,  is  too  remote  to  require  the 
attention  of  Great  Britain. 

10.  But  in  proportion  to  the  increase  of  the  colonies, 
a  vast  demand  is  growing  for  British  manufactures,  a 
glorious  market  wholly  in  the  power  of  Britain,  in  which 
foreigners  cannot  interfere,  which  will  increase  in  a  short 
time  even  beyond  her  power  of  supplying,  though  her 
whole  trade  should  be  to  her  colonies  ;  therefore  Britain 
should    not    too   much   restrain   manufactures    in    her 
colonies.     A  wise  and  good  mother  will  not  do  it.     To 
distress   is   to   weaken,    and    weakening   the   children 
weakens  the  whole  family. 

11.  Besides,  if  the  manufactures  of  Britain  (by  reason 
of  the  American  demands)  should  rise  too  high  in  price, 
foreigners  who  can  sell  cheaper  will  drive  her  merchants 
out  of  foreign  markets  ;  foreign  manufactures  will  there- 
by  be   encouraged   and    increased,   and   consequently 
foreign  nations,  perhaps  her  rivals  in  power,  grow  more 
populous  and  more  powerful ;  while  her  own  colonies, 
kept  too  low,  are  unable  to  assist  her,  or  add  to  her 
strength. 

12.  It  is  an  ill-grounded  opinion  that,  by  the  labor  of 
slaves,  America  may  possibly  vie  in  cheapness  of  manu- 
factures with  Britain.     The  labor  of  slaves  can  never  be 
so  cheap  here  as  the  labor  of  workingmen  is  in  Britain. 
Any  one  may  compute  it.     Interest  of  money  is  in  the 
colonies  from  six  to  ten  per  cent.     Slaves,  one  with 
another,  cost  thirty  pounds  sterling  per  head.     Reckon 
then  the  interest  of  the  first  purchase  of  a  slave,  the 
insurance   or   risk    on   his   life,  his   cloth 'ng  and  diet, 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  315 

expenses  in  his  sickness  and  loss  of  time,  loss  by  his 
neglect  of  business  (neglect  is  natural  to  the  man  who 
is  not  to  be  benefited  by  his  own  care  or  diligence), 
expense  of  a  driver  to  keep  him  at  work,  and  his  pilfer- 
ing from  time  to  time,  almost  every  slave  being  by 
nature  a  thief,  and  compare  the  whole  amount  with  the 
wages  of  a  manufacturer  of  iron  or  wool  in  England, 
you  will  see  that  labor  is  much  cheaper  there  than  it 
ever  can  be  by  negroes  here.  Why  then  will  Ameri- 
cans purchase  slaves  ?  Because  slaves  may  be  kept  as 
long  as  a  man  pleases,  or  has  occasion  for  their  labor ; 
while  hired  men  are  continually  leaving  their  masters 
(often  in  the  midst  of  his  business)  and  setting  up  for 
themselves.  —  Sec.  8. 

13.  As  the  increase  of  people  depends  on  the  en- 
couragement of  marriages,  the  following  things  must 
dimmish  a  nation,  viz.  1.  The  being  conquered;  for 
the  conquerors  will  engross  as  many  offices,  and  exact 
as  much  tribute  or  profit  on  the  labor  of  the  conquered, 
as  will  maintain  them  in  their  new  establishment ;  and 
this,  diminishing  the  subsistence  of  the  natives,  dis- 
courages their  marriages,  and  so  gradually  diminishes 
them,  while  the  foreigners  increase.  2.  Loss  of  terri- 
tory. Thus,  the  Britons  being  driven  into  Wales,  and 
crowded  together  in  a  barren  country  insufficient  to 
support  such  great  numbers,  diminished  till  the  people 
bore  a  proportion  to  the  produce,  while  the  Saxons 
increased  on  their  abandoned  lands,  till  the  island  bo- 
came  full  of  English.  And,  were  the  English  now 
driven  into  Wales  by  some  foreign  nation,  there  would 
in  a  few  years,  be  no  more  Englishmen  in  Britain,  than 
there  are  now  people  in  Wales.  3.  Loss  of  trade. 
Manufactures  exported  draw  subsistence  from  foreign 
countries  for  numbers;  who  are  thereby  enabled  to 
marry  and  raise  families.  If  the  nation  be  deprived  of 


316  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

any  branch  of  trade,  and  no  new  employment  is  found 
for  the  people  occupied  in  that  branch,  it  will  also  be 
soon  deprived  of  so  many  people.  4.  Loss  of  food. 
Suppose  a  nation  has  a  fishery,  which  not  only  employs 
great  numbers,  but  makes  the  food  and  subsistence  of 
the  people  cheaper.  If  another  nation  becomes  master 
of  the  seas,  and  prevents  the  fishery,  the  people  will 
diminish  in  proportion  as  the  loss  of  employ  and  dear- 
ness  of  provision  make  it  more  difficult  to  subsist  a 
family.  5.  Bad  government  and  insecure  property. 
People  not  only  leave  such  a  country,  and,  settling 
abroad,  incorporate  with  other  nations,  lose  their  native 
language,  and  become  foreigners,  but,  the  industry  of 
those  that  remain  being  discouraged,  the  quantity  of 
subsistence  in  the  country  is  lessened,  and  the  support 
of  a  family  becomes  more  difficult.  So  heavy  taxes 
tend  to  diminish  a  people.  6.  The  introduction  of 
slaves.  The  negroes  brought  into  the  English  sugar 
islands  have  greatly  diminished  the  whites  there;  the 
poor  are,  by  this  means,  deprived  of  employment,  while 
a  few  families  acquire  vast  estates,  which  they  spend  on 
foreign  luxuries,  and  educating  their  children  in  the 
habit  of  those  luxuries  ;  the  same  income  is  needed  for 
the  support  of  one  that  might  have  maintained  one  hun- 
dred. The  whites  who  have  slaves,  not  laboring,  are 
enfeebled,  and  therefore  not  so  generally  prolific ;  the 
slaves  being  worked  too  hard,  and  ill  fed,  their  constitu- 
tions are  broken,  and  the  deaths  among  them  are  more 
than  the  births ;  so  that  a  continual  supply  is  needed 
from  Africa.  The  northern  colonies,  having  few  slaves, 
increase  in  whites.  Slaves  also  pejorate  the  families 
that  use  them  ;  the  white  children  become  proud,  dis- 
gusted with  labor,  and,  being  educated  in  idleness,  are 
rendered  unfit  to  get  a  living  by  industry. 

14.  Hence  the  prince  that  acquires  new  territory,  if 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  317 

he  finds  it  vacant,  or  removes  the  natives  to  give  his 
own  people  room;  the  legislator  that  makes  effectual 
laws  for  promoting  of  trade,  increasing  employment, 
improving  of  land  by  more  or  better  tillage,  providing 
more  food  by  fisheries,  securing  property,  &c. ;  and 
the  man  that  invents  new  trades,  arts,  or  manufactures, 
or  new  improvements  in  husbandry,  may  be  properly 
called  fathers  of  their  nation,  as  they  are  the  cause  of 
the  generation  of  multitudes,  by  the  encouragement 
they  afford  to  marriage. 

15.  As  to  privileges  granted  to  the  married,   (such 
as  the  jus  trium  liberorum  among  the  Romans,)  they 
may  hasten  the  filling  of  a  country  that  has  been  thin- 
ned by  war  or  pestilence,  or  that  has  otherwise  vacant 
territory ;   but   cannot   increase  a  people   beyond   the 
means  provided  for  their  subsistence. 

16.  Foreign    luxuries    and    needless   manufactures, 
imported    and    used   in    a   nation,    do,    by   the    same 
reasoning,  increase  the  people  of  the  nation  that  fur- 
nishes them,  and  diminish  the  people  of  the  nation  that 
uses    them.     Laws,    therefore,  that  prevent    such   im- 
portations, and  on  the  contrary  promote  the  exportation 
of  manufactures  to  be  consumed  in  foreign  countries, 
may  be  called   (with  respect  to  the  people  that  make 
them)  generative   laws,   as,   by   increasing  subsistence 
they  encourage  marriage.     Such  laws  likewise  strength- 
en a  country  doubly,  by  increasing  its  own  people  and 
diminishing  its  neighbours. 

17.  Some  European  nations  prudently  refuse  to  con- 
sume the  manufactures  of  East  India ;  the;  should  like- 
wise forbid  them  to  their  colonies ;  for  the  gain  to  the 
merchant  is  not  to  be  compared  with  the  loss,  by  this 
means,  of  people  to  the  nation. 

18.  Home  luxury  in  the  great  increases  the  nation's 
manufacturers  employed  by  it,  who  are  many,  and  only 


318  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

tends  to  diminish  the  families  that  indulge  in  it,  who  are 
few.  The  greater  the  common  fashionable  expense  of 
any  rank  of  people,  the  more  cautious  they  are  of  mar- 
riage. Therefore  luxury  should  never  be  suffered  to 
become  common. 

19.  The   great   increase   of   offspring    in    particular 
families  is  not  always  owing  to  greater  fecundity   of 
nature,  but  sometimes  to  examples  of  industry  in   the 
heads,  and  industrious  education ;  by  which  the  chil- 
dren are  enabled  to  provide  better  for  themselves,  and 
their  marrying  early  is  encouraged  from  the  prospect 
of  good  subsistence. 

20.  If  there  be  a  sect,  therefore,  in  our  nation,  that 
regard  frugality   and  industry  as  religious  duties,  and 
educate  their  children  therein,  more  than  others  com- 
monly do ;  such  sect  must  consequently  increase  more 
by  natural  generation,  than  any  other  sect  in  Britain. 

21.  The  importation  of  foreigners  into  a  country,  that 
has  as  many  inhabitants  as  the  present  employments 
and  provisions  for  subsistence  will  bear,  will  be  in  the 
end  no  increase  of  people,  unless  the  new  comers  have 
more  industry  and  frugality  than  the  natives,  and  then 
they  will  provide  more  subsistence,  and  increase  in  the 
country ;   but  they  will  gradually  eat  the  natives  out. 
Nor  is  it  necessary  to  bring  in  foreigners  to  fill  up  any 
occasional  vacancy  in  a  country ;  for  such  vacancy  (if 
the  laws  are  good,  sec.  14,  16,)  will  soon  be   filled  by 
natural  generation.     Who  can  now   find'  the  vacancy 
made  in  Sweden,  France,  or  other  warlike  nations,  by 
the  plague  of  heroism,  forty  years  ago ;  in  France,  by 
the  expulsion  of  the  Protestants ;  in  England,  by  the 
settlement  of  her  colonies ;  or  in  Guinea,  by  one  hun- 
dred years'  exportation  of  slaves,  that  has  blackened  half 
America?     The   thinness    of  inhabitants   in    Spain    is 
owing  to  national  pride  and  idleness,  and  other  causes. 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  319 

rather  than  to  the  expulsion  of  the  Moors,  or  to  the 
making  of  new  settlements. 

22.  There  is,  in  short,  no  bound  to  the  prolific  na- 
ture of  plants  or  animals,  but  what  is  made  by  their 
crowding  and  interfering  with  each  other's  means  of 
subsistence.  Was  the  face  of  the  earth  vacant  of  other 
plants,  it  might  be  gradually  sowed  and  overspread  with 
one  kind  only,  as,  for  instance,  with  fennel ;  and,  were 
it  empty  of  other  inhabitants,  it  might  in  a  few  ages  be 
replenished  from  one  nation  only,  as,  for  instance,  with 
Englishmen.  Thus,  there  are  supposed  to  be  now 
upwards  of  one  million  English  souls  in  North  America, 
(though  it  is  thought  scarce  eighty  thousand  has  been 
brought  over  sea,)  and  yet  perhaps  there  is  not  one  the 
fewer  in  Britain,  but  rather  many  more,  on  account  of 
the  employment  the  colonies  afford  to  manufacturers 
at  home.  This  million  doubling,  suppose  but  once  in 
twenty-five  years,*  will,  in  another  century,  be  more 
than  the  people  of  England,  and  the  greatest  number 
of  Englishmen  will  be  on  this  side  the  water.  What  an 
accession  of  power  to  the  British  empire  by  sea  as  well 
as  land !  What  increase  of  trade  and  navigation ! 
What  numbers  of  ships  and  searnen  !  We  have  been 
here  but  little  more  than  one  hundred  years,  and  yet 
the  force  of  our  privateers  in  the  late  war,  united,  was 
greater,  both  in  men  and  guns,  than  that  of  the  whole 
British  navy  in  Queen  Elizabeth's  time.  How  impor- 
tant an  affair  then  to  Britain  is  the  present  treaty  for 
settling  the  bounds  between  her  colonies  and  the 

*  This  was  a  singularly  just  estimate  of  the  period  for  doubling  the 
population,  and  has  proved  to  be  substantially  correct,  since  periodical 
enumerations  have  been  made,  from  1790  down  to  the  present  time  (1835) ; 
the  rate  of  increase,  shown  by  these  censuses,  being  the  same  as  it  was 
estimated  in  1751,  that  it  would  be.  The  prediction  in  the  text,  as  to  the 
probable  number  of  inhabitants,  is  therefore  likely  to  be  fully  verified.  — 
VV.  PHILLIPS. 


320  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

French,  and  how  careful  should  she  be  to  secure  room 
enough,  since  on  the  room  depends  so  much  the  in- 
crease of  her  people. 

23.  In  fine,  a  nation  well  regulated  is  like  a  polypus ; 
take  away  a  limb,  its  place  is  soon  supplied ;  cut  it  in 
tw7o,  and  each  deficient  part  shall  speedily  grow  out  of 
the  part  remaining.     Thus,  if  you  have  room  and  sub- 
sistence enough,  as  you  may,  by  dividing,  make  ten 
polypuses  out  of  one,  you  may  of  one  make  ten  nations, 
equally  populous  and  powerful ;   or  rather  increase   a 
nation  ten  fold  in  numbers  and  strength. 

And  since  detachments  of  English  from  Britain,  sent 
to  America,  will  have  their  places  at  home  so  soon  sup- 
plied and  increase  so  largely  here ;  why  should  the 
Palatine  boors  be  suffered  to  swarm  into  our  settle- 
ments, and,  by  herding  together,  establish  their  lan- 
guage and  manners,  to  the  exclusion  of  ours?  Why 
should  Pennsylvania,  founded  by  the  English,  become 
a  colony  of  aliens,  wrho  wrill  shortly  be  so  numerous  as 
to  Germanize  us  instead  of  our  Anglifying  them,  and 
will  never  adopt  our  language  or  customs  any  more  than 
they  can  acquire  our  complexion? 

24.  Which  leads  me  to  add  one   remark,   that   the 
number  of  purely  white  people  in  the  world  is  propor- 
tionably   very   small.     All   Africa   is   black  or   tawny; 
Asia   chiefly   tawny;   America   (exclusive  of  the  new 
comers)   wholly    so.     And  in  Europe,   the    Spaniards, 
Italians,  French,  Russians,  and  Swedes,  are  generally 
of  what   we  call  a  swarthy   complexion ;  as   are    the 
Germans  also,  the  Saxons  only  excepted,  who,  with  the 
English,  make  the  principal  body  of  white  people  on 
the  face  of  the  earth.     I  could  wish  their  numbers  were 
increased.     And  while  we  are,  as  I  may  call  it,  scour- 
ing our  planet,  by  clearing  America  of  woods,  and  so 
making  this  side  of  our  globe  reflect  a  brighter  light  to 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  321 

the  eyes  of  inhabitants  in  Mars  or  Venus,  why  should 
we,  in  the  sight  of  superior  beings,  darken  its  people? 
Why  increase  the  sons  of  Africa,  by  planting  them  in 
America,  where  we  have  so  fair  an  opportunity,  by 
excluding  all  blacks  and  tawnys,  of  increasing  the  lovely 
white  and  red  ?  But  perhaps  I  am  partial  to  the  com- 
plexion of  my  country,  for  such  kind  of  partiality  is 
natural  to  mankind. 


REMARKS 

ON  SOME  OF  THE   FOREGOING   OBSERVATIONS,  SHOWING   PARTICU- 
LARLY THE  EFFECTS  WHICH  MANNERS  HAVE  ON  POPULATION. 

In  a  Letter  from  Richard  Jackson  of  London  to  the  Author. 

DEAR  SIR, 

IT  is  now  near -three  years  since  I  received  your  ex- 
cellent Observations  on  the  Increase  of  Mankind,  in 
which  you  have  with  so  much  sagacity  and  accuracy 
shown  in  what  manner,  and  by  what  causes,  that  princi- 
pal means  of  political  grandeur  is  best  promoted  ;  and 
have  so  well  supported  those  just  inferences  you  have 
occasionally  drawn,  concerning  the  general  state  of  our 
American  colonies,  and  the  views  and  conduct  of  some 
of  the  inhabitants  of  Great  Britain. 

You  have  abundantly  proved,  that  natural  fecundity  is 
hardly  to  be  considered,  because  the  vis  generandi,  as 
far  as  we  know,  is  unlimited,  and  because  experience 
shows,  that  the  numbers  of  nations  are  altogether  govern- 
ed by  collateral  causes,  and  among  these  none  of  so 
much  force  as  the  quantity  cf  subsistence,  whether  aris- 
ing from  climate,  soil,  improvement  of  tillage,  trade,  fish- 
eries, secure  property,  conquest  of  new  countries,  or 
other  favorable  circumstances. 

VOL.    II.  21 


FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

As  I  perfectly  concurred  with  you  in  your  sentiments 
on  these  heads,  I  have  been  very  desirous  of  building 
somewhat  on  the  foundation  you  have  there  laid  ;  and 
was  induced,  by  your  hints  in  the  twenty -first  sec- 
tion, to  trouble  you  with  some  thoughts  on  the  influence 
manners  have  always  had,  and  are  always  likely  to 
ha^e,  on  the  numbers  of  a  people,  and  their  political 
prosperity  in  general. 

The  end  of  every  individual  is  its  own  private  good. 
The  rules  it  observes  in  the  pursuit  of  this  good  are  a 
system  of  propositions,  almost  every  one  founded  in 
authority,  that  is,  derive  their  weight  from  the  credit 
given  to  one  or  more  persons,  and  not  from  demon- 
stration. 

And  this,  in  the  most  important  as  well  as  the  other 
affairs  of  life,  is  the  case  even  of  the  wisest  and  philo- 
sophical part  of  the  human  species ;  and  that  it  should 
be  so  is  the  less  strange,  when  we  consider,  that  it  is 
perhaps  impossible  to  prove,  that  being,  or  life  itself,  has 
any  other  value  than  what  is  set  on  it  by  authority. 

A  confirmation  of  this  may  be  derived  from  the  ob- 
servation, that,  in  every  country  in  the  universe,  happi- 
ness is  sought  upon  a  different  plan ;  and,  even  in  the 
same  country,  we  see  it  placed  by  different  ages,  pro 
fessions,  and  ranks  of  men,  in  the  attainment  of  enjoy- 
ments utterly  unlike. 

These  propositions,  as  well  as  others  framed  upon 
them,  become  habitual  by  degrees,  and,  as  they  govern 
the  :  etermination  of  the  will,  I  call  them  moral  habits. 

There  are  another  set  of  habits,  that  have  the  direc- 
tion of  the  members  of  the  body,  that  I  call  therefore 
mechanical  habits.  These  compose  what  we  commonly 
call  the  arts,  which  are  more  or  less  liberal  or  mechan- 
ical, as  they  more  or  less  partake  of  assistance  from  the 
operations  of  the  mind. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  323 

The  cumulus  of  the  moral  habits  of  each  individual  is 
the  manners  of  that  individual ;  the  cumulus  of  the  man- 
ners of  individuals  makes  up  the  manners  of  a  nation. 

The  happiness  of  individuals  is  evidently  the  ultimate 
end  of  political  society ;  and  political  welfare,  or  the 
strength,  splendor,  and  opulence  of  the  state,  have  been 
always  admitted,  both  by  political  writers,  and  the  valu- 
able part  of  mankind  in  general,  to  conduce  to  this  end, 
and  are  therefore  desirable. 

The  causes  that  advance  or  obstruct  any  one  of 
these  three  objects,  are  external  or  internal.  The  latter 
may  be  divided  into  physical,  civil,  and  personal,  under 
which  last  head  I  comprehend  the  moral  and  mechani- 
cal habits  of  mankind.  The  physical  causes  are  princi- 
pally climate,  soil,  and  number  of  persons ;  the  civil,  are 
government  and  laws;  and  political  welfare  is  always 
in  a  ratio  composed  of  the  force  of  these  particular 
causes.  A  multitude  of  external  causes,  and  all  these 
internal  ones,  not  only  control  and  qualify,  but  are  con- 
stantly acting  on,  and  thereby  insensibly,  as  well  as 
sensibly,  altering  one  another,  both  for  the  better  and 
the  worse,  and  this,  not  excepting  the  climate  itself. 

The  powerful  efficacy  of  manners  in  increasing  a 
people  is  manifest  from  the  instance  you  mention,  the 
Quakers  ;  among  them  industry  and  frugality  multiply 
and  extend  the  use  of  the  necessaries  of  life ;  to  man- 
ners of  a  like  kind  are  owing  the  populousness  of  Hol- 
land, Switzerland,  China,  Japan,  and  most  parts  of 
Hindostan,  &c.,  in  every  one  of  which  the  force  of 
extent  of  territory  and  fertility  of  soil  is  multiplied,  or 
their  want  compensated  by  industry  and  frugality. 

Neither  nature  nor  art  has  contributed  much  to  the 
production  of  subsistence  in  Switzerland ;  yet  we  see 
frugality  preserves  and  even  increases  families  that  live 
on  their  fortunes,  and  which,  in  England,  we  call  the 


324  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

gentry  ;  and  the  observation  we  cannot  but  make  in  the 
southern  part  of  this  kingdom,  that  those  families,  in- 
cluding all  superior  ones,  are  gradually  becoming  ex- 
tinct, affords  the  clearest  proof,  that  luxury  (that  is,  a 
6reater  expense  of  subsistence  than  in  prudence  a  man 
ought  to  consume)  is  as  destructive,  as  a  disproportiona- 
te want  of  it ;  but  in  Scotland,  as  in  Switzerland,  the 
gentry,  though  one  with  another  they  have  not  one 
fourth  of  the  income,  increase  in  number. 

And  here  I  cannot  help  remarking,  by  the  by,  how 
well  founded  your  distinction  is  between  the  increase  of 
mankind  in  old  and  new  settled  countries  in  general, 
and  more  particularly  in  the  case  of  families  of  condition. 
In  America,  where  the  expenses  are  more  confined  to 
necessaries,  and  those  necessaries  are  cheap,  it  is  com- 
mon to  see  above  one  hundred  persons  descended  from 
one  living  old  man.  In  England,  it  frequently  happens, 
where  a  man  has  seven,  eight,  or  more  children,  there 
has  not  been  a  descendant  in  the  next  generation,  oc- 
casioned by  the  difficulties  the  number  of  children  has 
brought  on  the  family,  in  a  luxurious,  dear  country,  and 
which  have  prevented  their  marrying. 

That  this  is  more  owing  to  luxury  than  mere  want, 
appears  from  what  I  have  said  of  Scotland,  and  more 
plainly  from  parts  of  England  remote  from  London,  in 
most  of  which  the  necessaries  of  life  are  nearly  as  dear, 
in  some  dearer  than  London ;  yet  the  people  of  all  ranks 
marry  and  breed  up  children. 

Again;  among  the  lower  ranks  of  life,  none  produce 
so  few  children  as  servants.  This  is,  in  some  measure, 
to  be  attributed  to  their  situation,  which  hinders  mar- 
riage, but  is  also  to  be  attributed  to  their  luxury  and 
corruption  of  manners,  which  are  greater  than  among 
any  other  set  of  people  in  England,  and  is  the  conse- 
quence of  a  nearer  view  of  the  lives  and  persons  of  a 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  325 

superior  rank,  than  any  inferior  rank,  without  a  proper 
education,  ought  to  have. 

The  quantity  of  subsistence  in  England  has  unques- 
tionably become  greater  for  many  ages  ;  and  yet,  if  the 
inhabitants  are  more  numerous,  they  certainly  are  not 
so  in  proportion  to  our  improvement  of  the  means  of 
support.  I  am  apt  to  think  there  are  few  parts  of  this 
kingdom,  that  have  not  been  at  some  former  time  more 
populous  than  at  present.  I  have  several  cogent  rea- 
sons for  thinking  so  of  a  great  part  of  the  countries  I 
am  most  intimately  acquainted  with  ;  but,  as  they  were 
probably  not  all  most  populous  at  the  same  time,  and  as 
some  of  our  towns  are  visibly  and  vastly  grown  in  bulk, 
I  dare  not  suppose,  as  judicious  men  have  done,  that 
England  is  less  peopled  than  heretofore. 

The  growth  of  our  towns  is  the  effect  of  a  change  of 
manners,  and  improvement  of  arts,  common  to  all  Eu- 
rope ;  and  though  it  is  not  imagined,  that  it  has  lessened 
the  country  growth  of  necessaries,  it  has  evidently,  by 
introducing  a  greater  consumption  of  them  (an  infallible 
consequence  of  a  nation's  dwelling  in  towns),  counter- 
acted the  effects  of  our  prodigious  advances  in  the  arts. 

But  however  frugality  may  supply  the  place,  or  prod- 
igality counteract  the  effects,  of  the  natural,  or  acquired 
subsistence  of  a  country,  industry  is,  beyond  doubt,  a 
more  efficacious  cause  of  plenty  than  any  natural  ad- 
vantage of  extent  or  fertility.  I  have  mentioned  in- 
stances of  frugality  and  industry,  united  with  extent  and 
fertility.  In  Spain  and  Asia  Minor,  we  see  frugality 
joined  to  extent  and  fertility,  without  industry ;  in  Ire- 
land, we  once  saw  the  same ;  Scotland  had  then  none 
of  them  but  frugality.  The  change  in  these  two  coun- 
tries is  obvious  to  every  one,  and  it  is  owing  to  industry 
not  yet  very  widely  diffused  in  either.  The  effects  of 
industry  and  frugality  in  England  are  surprising ;  both 


326  FRANKLIN    S    WRITINGS. 

the  rent  and  the  value  of  the  inheritance  of  land  depend 
on  them  greatly  more  than  on  nature,  and  this,  though 
there  is  no  considerable  difference  in  the  prices  of  our 
markets.  Land  of  equal  goodness  lets  for  double  the 
rent  of  other  land  lying  in  the  same  county,  and  there 
are  many  years'  purchase  difference  between  different 
counties,  where  rents  are  equally  well  paid  and  secure. 

Thus  manners  operate  upon  the  number  of  inhabit- 
ants ;  but  of  their  silent  effects  upon  the  civil  constitu- 
tion, history,  and  even  our  own  experience,  yields  us 
abundance  of  proofs,  though  they  are  not  uncommonly 
attributed  to  external  causes  ;  their  support  of  a  gov- 
ernment against  external  force  is  so  great,  that  it  is  a 
common  maxim  among  the  advocates  of  liberty,  that  no 
free  government  was  ever  dissolved,  or  overcome, 
before  the  manners  of  its  subjects  were  corrupted. 

The  superiority  of  Greece  over  Persia  was  singly 
owing  to  their  difference  of  manners ;  and  that,  though 
all  natural  advantages  were  on  the  side  of  the  latter,  to 
which  I  might  add  civil  ones ;  for,  though  the  greatest  of 
all  civil  advantages,  liberty,  was  on  the  side  of  Greece, 
yet  that  added  no  political  strength  to  her,  other  than  as 
it  operated  on  her  manners,  and,  when  they  were  cor- 
rupted, the  restoration  of  their  liberty  by  the  Romans, 
overturned  the  remains  of  their  power. 

Whether  the  manners  of  ancient  Rome  were  at  any 
period  calculated  to  promote  the  happiness  of  individu- 
als, it  is  not  my  design  to  examine ;  but  that  their 
manners,  and  the  effects  of  those  manners  on  their 
government  and  public  conduct,  founded,  enlarged,  and 
supported,  and  afterwards  overthrew  their  empire,  is 
beyond  all  doubt.  One  of  the  effects  of  their  conquest 
furnishes  us  with  a  strong  proof,  how  prevalent  manners 
are  even  beyond  the  quantity  of  subsistence ;  for,  when 
the  custom  of  bestowing  on  the  citizens  of  Rome  corn 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  327 

enough  to  support  themselves  and  families,  was  become 
established,  and  Egypt  and  Sicily  produced  the  grain, 
that  fed  the  inhabitants  of  Italy,  this  became  less  pop- 
ulous every  day,  and  the  jus  trium  liberorum  was  but 
an  expedient,  that  could  not  balance  the  want  of  indus- 
try and  frugality. 

But  corruption  of  manners  did  not  only  thin  the 
inhabitants  of  the  Roman  empire,  but  it  rendered  the 
remainder  incapable  of  defence,  long  before  its  fall, 
perhaps  before  the  dissolution  of  the  republic ;  so  that 
without  standing  disciplined  armies,  composed  of  men, 
whose  moral  habits  principally,  and  mechanical  habits 
secondarily,  made  them  different  from  the  body  of  the 
people,  the  Roman  empire  had  been  a  prey  to  the 
barbarians  many  ages  before  it  was. 

By  the  mechanical  habits  of  the  soldiery,  I  mean 
their  discipline,  and  the  art  of  war ;  and  that  this  is 
but  a  secondary  quality,  appears  from  the  inequality 
that  has  in  all  ages  been  between  raw,  though  well-dis- 
ciplined armies,  and  veterans,  and  more  from  the  irre- 
sistible force  a  single  moral  habit,  religion,  has  conferred 
on  troops,  frequently  neither  disciplined  nor  experi- 
enced. 

The  military  manners  of  the  noblesse  in  France  com- 
pose the  chief  force  of  that  kingdom,  and  the  enterpris- 
ing manners  and  restless  dispositions  of  the  inhabitants 
of  Canada  have  enabled  a  handful  of  men  to  harass  our 
populous  and  generally  less  martial  colonies ;  yet  neither 
are  of  the  value  they  seem  at  first  sight,  because  over- 
balanced by  the  defect  they  occasion  of  other  habits, 
that  would  produce  more  eligible  political  good;  and 
military  manners  in  a  people  are  not  necessary  in  an 
age  and  country  where  such  manners  may  be  occasion- 
ally formed  and  preserved  among  men  enough  to  defend 
the  state ;  and  such  a  country  is  Great  Britain,  where, 


326  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

though  the  lower  class  of  people  are  by  no  means  of  a 
military  cast,  yet  they  make  better  soldiers  than  even 
the  noblesse  of  France. 

The  inhabitants  of  this  country,  a  few  ages  back, 
were  to  the  populous  and  rich  provinces  of  France, 
what  Canada  is  now  to  the  British  colonies.  It  is  true, 
there  was  less  disproportion  between  their  natural 
strength  ;  but  I  mean,  that  the  riches  of  France  were  a 
real  weakness,  opposed  to  the  military  manners  founded 
upon  poverty  and  a  rugged  disposition,  then  the  charac- 
ter of  the  English ;  but  it  must  be  remembered,  that  at 
this  time  the  manners  of  a  people  were  not  distinct  from 
that  of  their  soldiery,  for  the  use  of  standing  armies  has 
deprived  a  military  people  of  the  advantages  they 
before  had  over  others ;  and  though  it  has  been  often 
said,  that  civil  wars  give  power,  because  they  render  all 
men  soldiers,  I  believe  this  has  only  been  found  true  in 
internal  wars  following  civil  wars,  and  not  in  external 
ones ;  for  now,  in  foreign  wars^  a  small  army,  with  am- 
ple means  to  support  it,  is  of  greater  force  than  one 
more  numerous,  with  less.  This  last  fact  has  often 
happened  between  France  and  Germany. 

The  means  of  supporting  armies,  and  consequently 
the  power  of  exerting  external  strength,  are  best  found 
in  the  industry  and  frugality  of  the  body  of  a  people 
living  under  a  government  and  laws,  that  encourage 
commerce  ;  for  commerce  is  at  this  day  almost  the  only 
stimulus,  that  forces  every  one  to  contribute  a  share  of 
labor  for  the  public  benefit. 

But  such  is  the  human  frame,  and  the  world  is  so 
constituted,  that  it  is  a  hard  matter  to  possess  one's  self 
of  a  benefit,  without  laying  one's  self  open  to  a  loss  on 
some  other  side ;  the  improvements  of  manners  of  one 
sort  often  deprave  those  of  another ;  thus  we  see  in- 
dustry and  frugality  under  the  influence  of  commerce, 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  329 

which  I  call  a  commercial  spirit,  tend  to  destroy,  as  well 
as  support,  the  government  it  flourishes  under. 

Commerce  perfects  the  arts,  but  more  the  mechanical 
than  the  liberal,  and  this  for  an  obvious  reason ;  it 
softens  and  enervates  the  manners.  Steady  virtue  and 
unbending  integrity  are  seldom  to  be  found  where 
a  spirit  of  commerce  pervades  every  thing;  yet  the  per- 
fection of  commerce  is,  that  every  thing  should  have  its 
price.  We  every  day  see  its  progress,  both  to  our 
benefit  and  detriment  here.  Things,  that  boni  mores 
forbid  to  be  set  to  sale,  are  become  its  objects,  and 
there  are  few  things  indeed  extra  commercium.  The 
legislative  power  itself  has  been  in  commercio,  and 
church  livings  are  seldom  given  without  consideration, 
even  by  sincere  Christians,  and,  for  consideration,  not 
seldom  to  very  unworthy  persons.  The  rudeness  of 
ancient  military  times,  and  the  fury  of  more  modern 
enthusiastic  ones,  are  worn  off;  even  the  spirit  of  foren- 
sic contention  is  astonishingly  diminished,  all  marks  of 
manners  softening ;  but  luxury  and  corruption  have 
taken  their  places,  and  seem  the  inseparable  companions 
of  commerce  and  the  arts. 

I  cannot  help  observing,  however,  that  this  is  much 
more  the  case  in  extensive  countries,  especially  at  their 
metropolis,  than  in  other  places.  It  is  an  old  observa- 
tion of  politicians,  and  frequently  made  by  historians, 
that  small  states  always  best  preserve  their  manners. 
Whether  this  happens  from  the  greater  room  there 
is  for  attention  in  the  legislature,  or  from  the  less  room 
there  is  for  ambition  and  avarice,  it  is  a  strong  argument, 
among  others,  against  an  incorporating  union  of  the  col- 
onies in  America,  or  even  a  federal  one,  that  may  tend 
to  the  future  reducing  them  under  one  government. 

Their  power,  while  disunited,  is  less,  but  their  liber- 
ty, as  well  as  manners,  is  more  secure ;  and,  considering 


330  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

the  little  danger  of  any  conquest  to  be  made  upon 
them,  I  had  rather  they  should  suffer  something 
through  disunion,  than  see  them  under  a  general 
administration  less  equitable  than  that  concerted  at 
Albany.* 

I  take  it,  the  inhabitants  of  Pennsylvania  are  both 
frugal  and  industrious  beyond  those  of  any  province  in 
America.  If  luxury  should  spread,  it  cannot  be  extir- 
pated by  laws.  We  are  told  by  Plutarch,  that  Plato 
used  to  say,  It  was  a  hard  thing  to  make  laws  for  the 
Cyrenians,  a  people  abounding  in  plenty  and  opulence. 

But  from  what  I  set  out  with  it  is  evident,  if  I  be  not 
mistaken,  that  education  only  can  stem  the  torrent,  and, 
without  checking  either  true  industry  or  frugality,  pre- 
vent the  sordid  frugality  and  laziness  of  the  old  Irish, 
and  many  of  the  modern  Scotch,  (I  mean  the  inhabitants 
of  that  country,  those  who  leave  it  for  another  being 
generally  industrious,)  or  the  industry,  mixed  with  luxu- 
ry, of  this  capital,  from  getting  ground,  and,  by  render- 
ing ancient  manners  familiar,  produce  a  reconciliation  be- 
tween disinterestedness  and  commerce ;  a  thing  we  often 
see,  but  almost  always  in  men  of  a  liberal  education. 

To  conclude ;  when  we  would  form  a  people,  soil  and 
climate  may  be  found  at  least  sufficiently  good ;  inhab- 
itants may  be  encouraged  to  settle,  and  even  supported 
for  a  while  ;  a  good  government  and  laws  may  be  fram- 
ed, and  even  arts  may  be  established,  or  their  produce 
imported  ;  but  many  necessary  moral  habits  are  hardly 
ever  found  among  those  who  voluntarily  offer  themselves, 
in  times  of  quiet  at  home,  to  people  new  colonies ; 
besides  that  the  moral,  as  well  as  mechanical  habits, 
adapted  to  a  mother  country,  are  frequently  not  so  to 

*  Alluding  to  a  plan  for  the  union  of  the  colonies,  which  had  been 
concerted  by  a  convention  at  Albany.  The  papers  relating  to  this  subject 
may  be  seen  in  another  part  of  this  work  -  EDITOR. 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  331 

the  new  settled  one,  and  to  external  events,  many  of 
which  are  always  unforeseen.  Hence  it  is  we  have 
seen  such  fruitless  attempts  to  settle  colonies,  at  an 
immense  public  and  private  expense,  by  several  of  the 
powers  of  Europe ;  and  it  is  particularly  observable, 
that  none  of  the  English  colonies  became  any  way 
considerable,  till  the  necessary  manners  were  born  and 
grew  up  in  the  country,  excepting  those  to  which 
singular  circumstances  at  home  forced  manners  fit  for 
the  forming  a  new  state. 

I  am,  Sir,  &c.         R.  J 


REMARKS 


ON  JUDGE   FOSTER'S    ARGUMENT    IN    FAVOR  OF  THE    RIGHT   Of 
IMPRESSING  SEAMEN. 


These  remarks  were  written  in  pencil  on  the  margin  of  Judge 
Foster's  REPORT,  in  which  was  contained  his  argument  respecting 
the  impressment  of  seamen.  The  extracts  from  the  REPORT  are 
printed  below  in  the  smaller  type,  and  each  is  followed  by  Frank- 
lin's remarks  in  the  larger  type.  The  references  are  to  the  edition 
of  1762.  — EDITOR. 


Page  157.  "  The  only  question  at  present  is,  whether  manners, 
persons  who  have  freely  chosen  a  seafaring  life,  persons  whose 
education  and  employment  have  fitted  them  for  the  service,  and 
inured  them  to  it,  whether  such  persons  may  not  be  legally  pressed 
into  the  service  of  the  crown,  whenever  the  public  safety  requireth 
it ;  ne  quid  dctrimenti  respublica  capiat. 

"For  my  part,  I  think  they  may.  I  think  the  crown  hath  a 
right  to  command  the  service  of  these  people  whenever  the  public 
safety  calleth  for  it.  The  same  right  that  it  hath  to  require  the 
per.sonal  service  of  every  man  able  to  bear  arms  in  case  of  a 


332  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

sudden  invasion  or  formidable  insurrection.  The  right  in  both 
cases  is  founded  on  one  and  the  same  principle,  the  necessity  of  the 
case  in  order  to  the  preservation  of  the  whole." 

The  conclusion  here,  from  the  whole  to  a  part,  does 
not  seem  to  be  good  logic.  When  the  personal  service 
of  every  man  is  called  for,  there  the  burthen  is  equal. 
Not  so,  when  the  service  of  part  is  called  for,  and 
others  excused.  If  the  alphabet  should  say,  Let  us  all 
fight  for  the  defence  of  the  whole ;  that  is  equal,  and 
may  therefore  be  just.  But  if  they  should  say,  Let  A, 
B,  C,  and  D,  go  and  fight  for  us,  while  we  stay  at 
home  and  sleep  in  whole  skins ;  that  is  not  equal,  and 
therefore  cannot  be  just. 

Page  158.  "  It  would  be  time  very  ill  spent  to  go  about  to  prove 
that  this  nation  can  never  be  long  in  a  state  of  safety,  our  coast 
defended,  and  our  trade  protected,  without  a  naval  force  equal  to 
all  the  emergencies  that  may  happen.  And  how  can  we  be  secure 
of  such  a  force  1  The  keeping  up  the  same  naval  force  in  time  of 
peace,  which  will  be  absolutely  necessary  for  our  security  in  time 
of  war,  would  be  an  absurd,  a  fruitless,  and  a  ruinous  expense. 
The  only  course  then  left,  is  for  the  crown  to  employ,  upon  emergent 
occasions,  the  mariners  bred  up  in  the  merchant's  service." 

Employ — if  you  please.  The  word  signifies  engag- 
ing a  man  to  work  for  me  by  offering  him  such  wagei 
as  are  sufficient  to  induce  him  to  prefer  my  service. 
This  is  very  different  from  compelling  him  to  work  for- 
me on  such  terms  as  I  think  proper. 

"  And  as  for  the  mariner  himself,  he,  when  taken  into  the  service 
of  the  crown,  only  changeth  masters  for  a  time ;  his  service  and 
employment  continue  the  very  same,  with  this  advantage,  that  the 
dangers  of  the  sea  and  enemy  are  not  so  great  in  the  service  of  the 
crown  as  in  that  of  the  merchant." 

These  are  false  facts.  His  service  and  employment 
are  not  the  same.  Under  the  merchant,  he  goes  in  an 
unarmed  vessel  not  obliged  to  fight,  but  only  to  trans- 
port merchandise.  In  the  king's  service,  he  is  obliged  to 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  333 

fight,  and  to  hazard  all  the  dangers  of  battle.  Sickness 
on  board  the  king's  ships  is  also  more  common  and 
more  mortal.  The  merchant's  service  too  he  can  quit 
at  the  end  of  a  voyage,  not  the  king's.  Also  the 
merchant's  wages  are  much  higher. 

"  I  am  very  sensible  of  the  hardship  the  sailor  suffereth  from  an 
impress  in  some  particular  cases,  especially  if  pressed  homeward- 
bound  after  a  long  voyage.  But  the  merchants  who  hear  me 
know,  that  an  impress  on  outward-bound  vessels  would  be  attended 
with  much  greater  inconveniences  to  the  trade  of  the  kingdom  ; 
and  yet  that  too  is  sometimes  necessary." 

Here  are  two  things  put  in  comparison  that  are  not 
comparable,  viz.  injury  to  seamen  and  inconvenience 
to  trade.  Inconvenience  to  the  whole  trade  of  a  nation 
will  not  justify  injustice  to  a  single  seaman.  If  the 
trade  would  suffer  without  his  service,  it  is  able  and 
ought  to  be  willing  to  offer  him  such  wages  as  may 
induce  him  to  afford  his  services  voluntarily. 

"  But  where  two  evils  present,  a  wise  administration,  if  there  be 
room  for  an  option,  will  choose  the  least." 

The  least  evil,  in  case  seamen  are  wanted,  is  to  give 
them  such  wages  as  will  induce  them  to  enlist  volun- 
tarily. Let  this  evil  be  divided  among  the  whole 
nation,  by  an  equal  tax  to  pay  such  wages. 

Page  159.  "War  itself  is  a  great  evil,  but  it  is  chosen  to  avoid 
a  greater.  The  practice  of  pressing  is  one  of  the  mischiefs  war 
bringeth  with  it.  But  it  is  a  maxim  in  law,  and  good  policy  too, 
that  private  mischiefs  must  be  borne  with  patience  for  preventing 
a  national  calamity." 

Where  is  this  maxim  in  law  and  good  policy  to  be 
found  ?  And  how  came  that  to  be  a  maxim,  which  is  not 
consistent  with  common  sense  ?  If  the  maxim  had  been, 
that  private  mischiefs  which  prevent  a  national  calamity 
ought  to  be  generously  compensated  by  that  nation, 
one  might  have  understood  it.  But  that  such  private 
mischiefs  are  only  to  be  borne  with  patience,  is  absurd. 


334  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

"  And  as  no  greater  calamity  can  befall  us  than  to  be  weak  and 
defenceless  at  sea  in  a  time  of  war,  so  I  do  not  know  that  the 
wisdom  of  the  nation  hath  hitherto  found  out  any  method  of 
manning  our  navy  less  inconvenient  than  pressing,  and,  at  the  same 
time,  equally  sure  and  effectual." 

Less  inconvenient  to  whom  ?  To  the  rich,  indeed, 
who  ought  to  be  taxed.  No  mischief  more  incon- 
venient to  poor  seamen  could  possibly  be  contrived. 

"  The  expedient  of  a  voluntary  register,  which  was  attempted  in 
King  William's  time,  had  no  effect.  And  some  late  schemes  I  have 
seen,  appear  to  me  more  inconvenient  to  the  mariner,  and  more 
inconsistent  with  the  principles  of  liberty,  than  the  practice  of 
pressing;  and,  what  is  still  worse,  they  are  in  my  opinion  totally 
impracticable." 

Twenty  ineffectual  or  inconvenient  schemes  will  not 
justify  one  that  is  unjust. 

Page  159.  "The  crown's  right  of  impressing  seamen  is  ground- 
ed upon  common  law." 

If  impressing  seamen  is  of  right  by  common  law  in 
Britain,  slavery  is  then  of  right  by  common  law  there ; 
there  being  no  slavery  worse  than  that  sailors  are 
subjected  to. 

Ibid.     "  The  result  of  evident  necessity." 

Pressing  not  so,  if  the  end  might  be  answered  by 
giving  higher  wages. 

Page  160.  "  There  are  many  precedents  of  writs  for  pressing. 
Some  are  for  pressing  ships ;  others  for  pressing  mariners  ;  and 
others  for  pressing  ships  and  mariners.  This  general  view  will  be 
sufficient  to  let  us  into  the  nature  of  these  precedents.  And  though 
the  affair  of  pressing  ships  is  not  now  before  me,  yet  I  could  not  well 
avoid  mentioning  it,  because  many  of  the  precedents  I  have  met 
with  and  must  cite,  go  as  well  to  that,  as  to  the  business  of  pressing 
mariners.  And,  taken  together,  they  serve  to  show  the  power  the 
crown  hath  constantly  exercised  over  the  whole  naval  force  of  the 
kingdom  as  well  shipping  as  mariners,  whenever  the  public  service 
required  it.  This  however  must  be  observed,  that  no  man  served 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  335 

the  crown  in  either  case  at  his  own  expense.    Masters  and  mariners 
received yw//  wages,  and  owners  were  constantly  paid  a  full  freight." 

Full  wages.  Probably  the  same  they  received  in  the 
merchant's  service.  Full  wages  to  a  seaman  in  time 
of  war,  are  the  wages  he  has  in  the  merchant's  service 
in  war  time.  But  half  such  wages  is  not  given  in  the 
king's  ships  to  impressed  seamen. 

Page  173.  "  Do  not  these  things  incontestably  presuppose  the 
expediency,  the  necessity,  and  the  legality  of  an  impress  in  general  ? 
If  they  do  not,  one  must  entertain  an  opinion  of  the  legislature 
acting  and  speaking  in  this  manner,  which  it  will  not  be  decent  for 
me.  to  mention  in  this  place." 

I  will  risk  that  indecency,  and  mention  it.  They 
were  not  honest  men  ;  they  acted  unjustly  by  the  sea- 
men, (who  have  no  vote  in  elections,  or  being  abroad 
cannot  use  them  if  they  have  them,)  to  save  their  own 
purses  and  those  of  their  constituents.  Former  parlia- 
ments acted  the  same  injustice  towards  the  laboring 
people,  who  had  not  forty  shillings  a  year  in  lands; 
after  depriving  them  wickedly  of  their  right  to  vote  in 
elections,  they  limited  their  wages,  and  compelled  them 
to  work  at  such  limited  rates,  on  penalty  of  being  sent 
to  houses  of  correction.  Sec.  8.  H.  vi.  Chap.  7  and  8. 

Page  174.  "  I  readily  admit  that  an  impress  is  a  restraint  upon 
the  natural  liberty  of  those  who  are  liable  to  it.  But  it  must  like- 
wise be  admitted,  on  the  other  hand,  that  every  restraint  upon 
natural  liberty  is  not  eo  nomine  illegal,  or  at  all  inconsistent  with  the 
principles  of  civil  liberty.  And  if  the  restraint,  be  it  to  what 
degree  soever,  appeareth  to  be  necessary  to  the  good  and  welfare  of 
the  whole,  and  to  be  warranted  by  statute  law,  as  well  as  immemo- 
rial usage,  it  cannot  be  complained  of  othertcise  than  as  a  private 
mischief;  which,  as  I  said  at  the  beginning,  must  under  all  govern- 
ments whatsoever  be  submitted  to  for  avoiding  a  public  incon- 
venience." 

I  do  not  see  the  propriety  of  this  must.  The  private 
mischief  is  the  loss  of  liberty  and  the  hazard  of  life, 


336  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

with  only  half  wages,  to  a  great  number  of  honest  men 
The  public  inconvenience  is  merely  a  higher  rate  ol 
seamen's  wages.  He  who  thinks  such  private  injustice 
must  be  done  to  avoid  public  inconvenience,  may 
understand  laiv,  but  seems  imperfect  in  his  knowledge 
of  equity.  Let  us  apply  this  author's  doctrine  to  his 
own  case.  It  is  for  the  public  service  that  courts 
should  be  had  and  judges  appointed  to  administer  the 
laws.  The  judges  should  be  bred  to  the  law  and 
skilled  in  it,  but  their  great  salaries  are  a  public  incon- 
venience. To  remove  the  inconvenience,  let  press- 
warrants  issue  to  arrest  and  apprehend  the  best 
lawyers,  and  compel  them  to  serve  as  judges  for  half 
the  money  they  would  have  made  at  the  bar.  Then 
tell  them,  that,  though  this  is  to  them  a  private  mischief, 
it  must  be  submitted  to  for  avoiding  a  public  incon- 
venience. Would  the  learned  judge  approve  such  use 
of  his  doctrine  ? 

When  the  author  speaks  of  impressing,  page  1 58,  he 
diminishes  the  horror  of  the  practice  as  much  as  possi- 
ble, by  presenting  to  the  mind  one  sailor  only  suffering 
a  hardship  as  he  tenderly  calls  it,  in  some  particular 
cases  only  ;  and  he  places  against  this  private  mischief 
the  inconvenience  to  the  trade  of  the  kingdom.  But  if, 
as  I  suppose  is  often  the  case,  the  sailor  who  is  pressed 
and  obliged  to  serve  for  the  defence  of  this  trade  at  the 
rate  of  25s.  a  month,  could  have  .£3.  15s,  in  the  mer- 
chant's service,  you  take  from  him  50s.  a  month ;  and  if 
you  have  100,000  in  your  service,  you  rob  that  honest 
part  of  society  and  their  poor  families  of  £  250,000.  per 
month,  or  three  millions  a  year,  and  at  the  same  time 
oblige  them  to  hazard  their  lives  in  fighting  for  the 
defence  of  your  trade;  to  the  defence  of  which  all 
ought  indeed  to  contribute,  (and  sailors  among  the  rest,) 
in  proportion  to  their  profits  by  it;  but  this  three  mil- 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  337 

lions  is  more  than  their  share,  if  they  did  not  pay  with 
their  persons ;  and,  when  you  force  that,  methinks  you 
should  excuse  the  other. 

But  it  may  be  said,  to  give  the  king's  seamen  mer- 
chant's wages  would  cost  the  nation  too  much,  and  call 
for  more  taxes.  The  question  then  will  amount  to  this  ; 
whether  it  be  just  in  a  community,  that  the  richer  part 
should  compel  the  poorer  to  fight  for  them  and  their 
properties,  for  such  wages  as  they  think  fit  to  allow, 
and  punish  them  if  they  refuse  ?  Our  author  tells  us  it 
is  legal.  I  have  not  law  enough  to  dispute  his  authori- 
ty, but  I  cannot  persuade  myself  it  is  equitable.  I  will 
however  own  for  the  present,  that  pressing  may  be  law- 
ful when  necessary ;  but  then  I  contend  that  it  may  be 
used  so  as  to  produce  the  same  good  effect,  the  public 
security,  without  doing  so  much  horrible  injustice  as  at- 
tends the  impressing  common  seamen.  In  order  to  be 
better  understood,  I  would  premise  two  things.  First, 
that  voluntary  seamen  might  be  had  for  the  service,  if 
they  were  sufficiently  paid.  The  proof  of  this  is,  that 
to  serve  in  the  same  ships,  and  incur  the  same  dangers, 
you  have  no  occasion  to  impress  captains,  lieutenants, 
second  lieutenants,  midshipmen,  pursers,  nor  any  other 
officers.  Why,  but  that  the  profit  of  their  places,  or 
the  emoluments  expected,  are  sufficient  inducements? 
The  business  then  is  by  impressing  to  find  money  suffi- 
cient to  make  the  sailors  all  volunteers,  as  well  as  their 
officers  ;  and  this  without  any  fresh  burthen  upon  trade. 
The  second  of  my  premises  is,  that,  25s.  a  month,  with 
his  share  of  the  salt  beef,  pork,  and  pease-pudding,  being 
found  sufficient  for  the  subsistence  of  a  hard-working 
seaman,  it  will  certainly  be  so  for  a  sedentary  scholar  or 
gentleman.  I  would  then  propose  to  form  a  treasury, 
out  of  which  encouragement  to  seamen  should  be  paid. 
To  fill  this  treasury  I  would  impress  a  number  of  civil 

VOL.  n.  22 


338  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

officers  who  at  present  have  great  salaries,  oblige  them 
to  serve  in  their  respective  offices  for  25s.  per  month, 
with  their  share  of  the  mess  provisions,  and  throw  the 
rest  of  their  salaries  into  the  seaman's  treasury.  If  such 
A  press-warrant  was  given  me  to  execute,  the  first  per- 
son I  would  press  should  be  a  recorder  of  Bristol,  or  a 
Mr.  Justice  Foster,  because  I  might  have  need  of  his 
edifying  example,  to  show  how  such  impressing  ought 
to  be  borne  with ;  for  he  would  certainly  find,  that, 
though  to  be  reduced  to  25s.  per  month  might  be  a 
private  mischief >  yet  that,  agreeably  to  his  maxim  of  law 
and  good  policy,  it  ought  to  be  borne  with  patience  for 
preventing  a  national  calamity.  Then  I  would  press 
the  rest  of  the  judges ;  and,  opening  the  Red  Book,  I 
would  press  every  civil  officer  of  government  from  =£50. 
a  year  up  to  .£50,000.,  which  would  throw  an  immense 
sum  into  our  treasury  ;  and  these  gentlemen  could  not 
well  complain,  since  they  would  receive  their  25s.  a 
month  and  their  rations,  and  that  too  without  being 
obliged  to  fight.  Lastly,  I  think  I  would  impress  the 
King,  and  confiscate  his  salary ;  but,  from  an  ancient 
prejudice  I  have  in  favor  of  that  title,  I  would  allow  him 
the  gentleman  merchant's  pay.  I  could  not  go  farther  in 
his  favor ;  for,  to  say  the  truth,  I  am  not  quite  satisfied 
of  the  necessity  or  utility  of  that  office  in  Great  Britain, 
as  I  see  many  flourishing  states  in  the  world  governed 
well  and  happy  without  it. 

Page  177.  "  For  I  freely  declare,  that  ancient  precedents  alone, 
unless  supported  by  modern  practice,  weigh  very  little  with  me  in 
questions  of  this  nature." 

The  modern  practice,  supported  by  ancient  prece- 
dents, weigh  as  little  with  me.  Both  the  one  and  the 
other  only  show  that  the  constitution  is  yet  imperfect, 
since  in  so  general  a  case  it  doth  not  secure  liberty,  but 
destroys  it ;  and  the  parliaments  are  unjust,  conniving 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  339 

at   oppression  of  the  poor,  where  the  rich   are  to  be 
gainers  or  savers  by  such  oppression. 

Page  179.  "  I  make  no  apology  for  the  length  of  my  argument, 
because  I  hope  the  importance  of  the  question  will  be  thought  a 
sufficient  excuse  for  me  in  this  respect." 

The  author  could  not  well  have  made  his  argument 
shorter.  It  required  a  long  discourse  to  throw  dust  in 
the  eyes  of  common  sense,  confound  all  our  ideas  of 
right  and  wrong,  make  black  seem  white,  and  the 
worse  appear  the  better  ooinion. 


340  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 


REMARKS    AND    FACTS 

RELATIVE  TO  THE  AMERICAN  PAPER  MONEY 


Mr.  Vaughan  says,  in  his  edition  of  the  author's  writings  ;  "  The 
best  account  I  can  give  of  the  occasion  of  the  Report,  to  which  this 
paper  is  a  reply,  is  as  follows.  During  the  war  there  had  been  a 
considerable  and  unusual  trade  to  America,  in  consequence  of  the 
great  fleets  and  armies  on  foot  there,  and  the  clandestine  dealings 
with  the  enemy,  who  were  cut  off  from  their  own  supplies.  This 
made  great  debts.  The  briskness  of  the  trade  ceasing  with  the  war, 
the  merchants  were  anxious  for  payment ;  which  occasioned  some 
confusion  in  the  colonies,  and  stirred  up  a  clamor  here  against 
paper  money.  The  Board  of  Trade,  of  which  Lord  Hillsborough 
was  the  chief,  joined  in  this  opposition  to  paper  money,  as  appears  by 
the  Report.  Dr.  Franklin,  being  asked  to  draw  up  an  answer  to 
their  Report,  wrote  the  following  paper." 

In  addition  to  the  facts  here  communicated  on  the  general  subject 
of  American  paper  money,  the  author  explains  the  causes  of  the 
various  denominations  of  the  currency  in  the  different  colonies;  that 
is,  why  the  number  of  shillings  and  pence  assigned  to  a  dollar  was 
larger  or  smaller  in  one  colony  than  in  others.  This  topic  is 
curious,  if  not  important,  even  at  the  present  day  ;  since  the  prac- 
tice of  forty  years,  founded  on  a  coin  of  the  decimal  notation,  uni- 
versally adopted  in  the  transactions  of  the  government,  has  done  little 
10  effect  a  change  in  the  habits  of  the  people,  who,  in  many  parts  of 
the  country,  still  adhere  to  the  old  mode  of  reckoning  by  shillings 
and  pence.  —  EDITOR. 

This  paper  is  a  very  able  vindication  of  the  provincial  paper- 
money  system.  The  mere  authority  of  Franklin's  opinion  at  this 
period  of  his  life,  as  he  was  now  fifty-eight  years  old,  with  all  his 
sagacity,  practical  good  sense,  activity  of  observation,  and  great  ex- 
perience, is  of  itself  of  great  weight.  His  arguments  are,  besides, 
>f  great  cogency.  It  is  to  be  observed  that  he  vindicates  the  system 


POLITICAL  .ECONOMY.  341 

on  the  ground  of  its  absolute  necessity,  as  the  means  of  a  supply  of 
a  circulating  medium.  The  existence  of  such  necessity  is  then  the 
main  question.  The  suppression  of  the  paper  currency  in  Massa- 
chusetts, in  1747,  in  pursuance  of  Hutchinson's  proposal,  and  its 
suppression  in  the  other  New  England  piovinces,  afford  very  strong 
grounds  of  argument  against  the  existence  of  any  such  necessity, 
notwithstanding  the  difference  in  the  circumstances  of  the  middle 
provinces,  from  those  of  the  New  England  provinces,  pointed  out  by 
Franklin  in  this  paper ;  since,  after  all,  the  cause  imagined  for  this 
necessity,  namely,  the  excessive  importations,  the  constantly  out- 
standing balance  due  to  the  British  merchants,  and  the  consequent 
remittances  of  specie,  existed  no  less  in  New  England  than  in  the 
middle  provinces.  It  may  be  gravely  doubted  whether  the  operation 
of  these  causes  was  so  different  in  the  different  provinces  as  Frank- 
lin supposes. 

The  paper-money  system  was  vindicated  upon  two  distinct 
grounds;  the  one,  the  necessity  of  a  currency,  and  the  impossibility  of 
keeping  a  sufficient  supply  of  gold  and  silver  in  the  country,  and  so, 
as  Dr.  Franklin  said  before  the  committee  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
if  you  cannot  have  what  you  would  prefer,  the  expediency  of  taking 
the  next  best  thing ;  the  other,  the  absolute  advantages  of  this 
currency,  even  over  the  precious  metals.  One  of  these  advantages 
was  the  revenue  derived  to  the  government  from  it.  Thus  Pownall, 
after  describing  the  situation  of  the  colonies,  says,  "  In  a  country, 
under  such  circumstances,  money  lent  to  settlers  upon  interest 
creates  money.  Paper  money  thus  lent  upon  interest  will  create 
gold  and  silver  in  principal,  while  the  interest  becomes  a  reserve  that 
pays  the  charges  of  government.  This  currency  is  the  true  Pactolian 
stream,  which  converts  all  into  gold  that  is  washed  by  it.  It  is  upon 
this  principle,  that  the  wisdom  and  virtue  of  the  Assembly  of  Penn- 
sylvania established,  under  the  sanction  of  government,  an  office  for 
the  emission  of  paper  money  by  loan."  —  POWN ALL'S  Administration 
of  the  Colonies,  4th  ed.  p.  186.  — W.  PHILLIPS. 


IN  the  Report  of  the  Board  of  Trade,  dated  February 
Oth,  1764,  the  following  reasons  are  given  for  restraining 
tlie  emission  of  paper  bills  of  credit  in  America,  as  a 
legal  tender. 

1 .  "  That  it  carries  the  gold  and  silver   out   of  the 


342  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

province,  and  so  ruins  the  country ;  as  experience  has 
shown,  in  every  colony  where  it  has  been  practised  in 
any  great  degree. 

2.  "That   the  merchants   trading    to   America   have 
suffered  and  lost  by  it. 

3.  "  That  the  restriction  has  had  a  beneficial  effect  in 
New  England. 

4.  "  That  every  medium  of  trade  should  have  an  in- 
trinsic value,  which  paper  money  has  not.     Gold  and 
silver  are  therefore  the  fittest  for  this  medium,  as  they 
are  an  equivalent,  which  paper  never  can  be. 

5.  "  That  debtors,  in   the   Assemblies,   make   paper 
money  with  fraudulent  views. 

6.  "  That  in  the  middle  colonies,  where  the  credit  of 
the  paper  money  has  been  best  supported,  the  bills 
have  never  kept  to  their  nominal  value  in  circulation, 
but  have  constantly  depreciated  to  a  certain   degree, 
whenever  the  quantity  has  been  increased." 

To  consider  these  reasons  in  their  order ;  the  first  is, 
First.  "  That  paper  money  carries  the  gold  and  silver 
out  of  the  province,  and  so  ruins  the  country  ;  as  expe- 
rience has  shown,  in  every  colony  where  it  has  been 
practised  in  any  great  degree."  This  opinion  of  its 
ruining  the  country  seems  to  be  merely  speculative,  or 
not  otherwise  founded  than  upon  misinformation  in  the 
matter  of  fact.  The  truth  is,  that,  the  balance  of  their 
trade  with  Britain  being  greatly  against  them,  the  gold 
and  silver  is  drawn  out  to  pay  that  balance ;  and  then 
the  necessity  of  some  medium  of  trade  has  induced  the 
making  of  paper  money,  which  could  not  be  carried 
away.  Thus,  if  carrying  out  all  the  gold  and  silver 
ruins  a  country,  every  colony  was  ruined  before  it  made 
paper  money.  But,  far  from  being  ruined  by  it,  the 
colonies  that  have  made  use  of  paper  money  have 
been,  and  are,  all  in  a  thriving  condition.  The  debt 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  343 

indeed  to  Britain  has  increased,  because  their  numbers, 
and  of  course  their  trade,  have  increased ;  for,  all  trade 
having  always  a  proportion  of  debt  outstanding,  which 
is  paid  in  its  turn,  while  fresh  debt  is  contracted,  the 
proportion  of  debt  naturally  increases  as  the  trade 
increases  ;  but  the  improvement  and  increase  of  estates 
in  the  colonies  has  been  in  a  greater  proportion  than 
their  debt. 

New  England,  particularly,  in  1 696  (about  the  time 
they  began  the  use  of  paper  money),  had,  in  all  its  four 
provinces,  but  one  hundred  and  thirty  churches  or  con- 
gregations ;  in  1 760  they  were  five  hundred  and  thirty. 
The  number  of  farms  and  buildings  there  is  increased 
in  proportion  to  the  numbers  of  people  ;  and  the  goods 
exported  to  them  from  England  in  1750,  before  the 
restraint  took  place,  were  near  five  times  as  much  as 
before  they  had  paper  money.  Pennsylvania,  before  it 
made  any  paper  money,  was  totally  stript  of  its  gold 
and  silver ;  though  they  had,  from  time  to  time,  like  the 
neighbouring  colonies,  agreed  to  take  gold  and  silver 
coins  at  higher  and  higher  nominal  values,  in  hopes  of 
drawing  money  into,  and  retaining  it  for  the  internal 
uses  of,  the  province.  During  that  weak  practice,  silver 
got  up  by  degrees  to  8s.  9d.  per  ounce,  and  English 
crowns  were  called  six,  seven,  and  eight  shilling  pieces, 
long  before  paper  money  was  made.  But  this  practice 
of  increasing  the  denomination  was  found  not  to  answer 
the  end.  The  balance  of  trade  carried  out  the  gold 
and  silver  as  fast  as  it  was  brought  in,  the  merchants 
raising  the  price  of  their  goods  in  proportion  to  the  in- 
creased denomination  of  the  money.  The  difficulties 
for  want  of  cash  were  accordingly  very  great,  the  chief 
part  of  the  trade  being  carried  on  by  the  extremely 
inconvenient  method  of  barter;  when,  in  1723,  paper 
money  was  first  made  there,  which  gave  new  life  to 


344  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

business,  promoted  greatly  the  settlement  of  neu  lands, 
(by  lending  small  sums  to  beginners  on  easy  interest,  to 
be  repaid  by  instalments,)  whereby  the  province  has  so 
greatly  increased  in  inhabitants,  that  the  export  from 
hence  thither  is  now  more  than  tenfold  what  it  then 
was ;  and,  by  their  trade  with  foreign  colonies,  they 
have  been  able  to  obtain  great  quantities  of  gold  and 
silver,  to  remit  hither  in  return  for  the  manufactures  of 
this  country.  New  York  and  New  Jersey  have  also 
increased  greatly  during  the  same  period,  with  the  use 
of  paper  money ;  so  that  it  does  not  appear  to  be  of  the 
ruinous  nature  ascribed  to  it.  And,  if  the  inhabitants  of 
those  countries  are  glad  to  have  the  use  of  paper  among 
themselves,  that  they  may  thereby  be  enabled  to  spare, 
for  remittances  hither,  the  gold  and  silver  they  obtain 
by  their  commerce  with  foreigners,  one  would  expect 
that  no  objection  against  their  parting  with  it  could  arise 
here,  in  the  country  that  receives  it. 

The  second  reason  is,  "  That  the  merchants  trading 
to  America  have  suffered  and  lost  by  the  paper  money." 
This  may  have  been  the  case  in  particular  instances,  at 
particular  times  and  places ;  as  in  South  Carolina 
about  fifty-eight  years  since,  when  the  colony  was 
thought  in  danger  of  being  destroyed  by  the  Indians 
and  Spaniards ;  and  the  British  merchants,  in  fear  of 
losing  their  whole  effects  there,  called  precipitately  for 
remittances ;  and  the  inhabitants,  to  get  something 
lodged  in  safe  countries,  gave  any  price  in  paper  money 
for  bills  of  exchange ;  whereby  the  paper,  as  compared 
with  bills,  or  with  produce,  or  other  effects  fit  for  ex- 
portation, was  suddenly  and  greatly  depreciated. 

The  unsettled  state  of  government  for  a  long  time  in 
that  province  had  also  its  share  in  depreciating  its  bills. 
But  since  that  danger  blew  over,  and  the  colony  has 
been  in  the  hands  of  the  crown,  their  currency  became 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  345 

fixed,  and  has  so  remained  to  this  day.  Also  in  New 
England,  when  much  greater  quantities  were  issued 
than  were  necessary  for  a  medium  of  trade,  to  defray 
the  expedition  against  Louisburg ;  and  during  the  last 
war  in  Virginia  and  North  Carolina,  when  great  sums 
were  issued  to  pay  the  colony  troops,  and  the  war 
made  tobacco  a  poorer  remittance,  from  the  higher  price 
of  freight  and  insurance ;  in  these  cases,  the  merchants 
trading  to  those  colonies  may  sometimes  have  suffered 
by  the  sudden  and  unforeseen  rise  of  exchange.  By 
slow  and  gradual  rises  they  seldom  suffer ;  the  goods 
being  sold  at  proportionable  prices.  But  war  is  a  com- 
mon calamity  in  all  countries,  and  the  merchants  that 
deal  with  them  cannot  expect  to  avoid  a  share  of  the 
losses  it  sometimes  occasions,  by  affecting  public  credit. 
It  is  hoped,  however,  that  the  profits  of  their  subsequent 
commerce  with  those  colonies  may  have  made  them 
some  reparation.  And  the  merchants  trading  to  the 
middle  colonies  (New  York,  New  Jersey,  and  Pennsyl- 
vania) have  never  suffered  by  any  rise  of  exchange ;  it 
having  ever  been  a  constant  rule  there  to  consider 
British  debts  as  payable  in  Britain,  and  not  to  be  dis- 
charged but  by  as  much  paper  (whatever  might  be  the 
rate  of  exchange)  as  would  purchase  a  bill  for  the  full 
sterling  sum.  On  the  contrary,  xhe  merchants  have 
been  great  gainers  by  the  use  of  paper  money  in  those 
colonies;  as  it  enabled  them  to  send  much  greater 
quantities  of  goods,  and  the  purchasers  to  pay  more 
punctually  for  them.  And  the  people  there  make  no 
complaint  of  any  injury  done  them  by  paper  money, 
with  a  legal  tender ;  they  are  sensible  of  its  benefits ; 
and  petition  to  have  it  so  allowed. 

The  third  reason  is,  "  That  the  restriction  has  had  a 
beneficial  effect  in  New  England."  Particular  circum- 
stances in  the  New  England  colonies  made  paper 


346  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS 

money  less  necessary  and  less  convenient  to  them. 
They  have  great  and  valuable  fisheries  of  whale  and 
cod,  by  which  large  remittances  can  be  made.  They 
are  four  distinct  governments ;  but,  having  much  mutual 
intercourse  of  dealings,  the  money  of  each  used  to  pass 
current  in  all.  But  the  whole  of  this  common  currency, 
not  being  under  one  common  direction,  was  not  so 
easily  kept  within  due  bounds ;  the  prudent  reserve  of 
one  colony  in  its  emissions  being  rendered  useless  by 
excess  in  another.  The  Massachusetts  therefore  were 
not  dissatisfied  with  the  restraint,  as  it  restrained  their 
neighbours  as  well  as  themselves  ;  and  perhaps  they  do 
not  desire  to  have  the  act  repealed.  They  have  not  yet 
felt  much  inconvenience  from  it ;  as  they  were  enabled 
to  abolish  their  paper  currency  by  a  large  sum  in  silver 
from  Britain,  to  reimburse  their  expenses  in  taking 
Louisburg;  which,  with  the  gold  brought  from  Portu- 
gal, by  means  of  their  fish,  kept  them  supplied  with  a 
currency,  till  the  late  war  furnished  them  and  all 
America  with  bills  of  exchange,  so  that  little  cash  was 
needed  for  remittance.  Their  fisheries,  too,  furnish 
them  with  remittances  through  Spain  and  Portugal  to 
England  ;  which  enables  them  the  more  easily  to  retain 
gold  and  silver  in  their  country.  The  middle  Colonies 
have  not  this  advantage ;  nor  have  they  tobacco,  which, 
in  Virginia  and  Maryland,  answers  the  same  purpose. 
When  colonies  are  so  different  in  their  circumstances,  a 
regulation,  that  is  not  inconvenient  to  one  or  a  few,  may 
be  very  much  so  to  the  rest.  But  the  pay  is  now  be- 
come so  indifferent  in  New  England,  at  least  in  some  of 
its  provinces,  through  the  want  of  currency,  that  the 
trade  thither  is  at  present  under  great  discouragement. 

The  fourth  reason  is,  "  That  every  medium  of  tradv 
should  have  an  intrinsic  value,  which  paper  money  has 
not.  Gold  and  silver  are  therefore  the  fittest  for  this 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  347 

medium,  as  they  are  an  equivalent,  which  paper  never 
can  be."  However  fit  a  particular  thing  may  be  for  a 
particular  purpose,  wherever  that  thing  is  not  to  be  had, 
or  not  to  be  had  in  sufficient  quantity,  it  becomes 
necessary  to  use  something  else,  the  fittest  that  can  be 
got  in  lieu  of  it.  Gold  and  silver  are  not  the  produce 
of  North  America,  which  has  no  mines  ;  and  that  which 
is  brought  thither  cannot  be  kept  there  in  sufficient 
quantity  for  a  currency.  Britain,  an  independent,  great 
state,  when  its  inhabitants  grow  too  fond  of  the  expen- 
sive luxuries  of  foreign  countries,  that  draw  away  its 
money,  can,  and  frequently  does,  make  laws  to  dis- 
courage or  prohibit  such  importations ;  and,  by  that 
means,  can  retain  its  cash. 

The  colonies  are  dependent  governments ;  and  their 
people,  having  naturally  great  respect  for  the  sovereign 
country,  and  being  thence  immoderately  fond  of  its 
modes,  manufactures,  and  superfluities,  cannot  be  re- 
strained from  purchasing  them  by  any  province  law ; 
because  such  law,  if  made,  would  immediately  be 
repealed  here,  as  prejudicial  to  the  trade  and  interest  of 
Britain.  It  seems  hard,  therefore,  to  draw  all  their 
real  money  from  them,  and  then  refuse  them  the  poor 
privilege  of  using  paper  instead  of  it.  Bank  bills  and 
bankers'  notes  are  daily  used  here  as  a  medium  of  trade, 
and  in  large  dealings  perhaps  the  greater  part  is  trans- 
acted by  their  means ;  and  yet  they  have  no  intrinsic 
value,  but  rest  on  the  credit  of  those  that  issue  them,  as 
paper  bills  in  the  colonies  do  on  the  credit  of  the 
respective  governments  there.  Their  being  payable  in 
cash,  upon  sight,  by  the  drawer,  is  indeed  a  circum- 
stance that  cannot  attend  the  colony  bills,  for  the  rea- 
sons just  above  mentioned,  their  cash  being  drawn  from 
them  by  the  British  trade.  But  the  legal  tender,  being 
substituted  in  its  place,  is  rather  a  greater  advantage  to 


348  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

the  possessor ;  since  he  need  not  be  at  the  trouble  of 
going  to  a  particular  bank  or  banker  to  demand  the 
money,  finding  (wherever  he  has  occasion  to  lay  out 
money  in  the  province)  a  person  that  is  obliged  to  take 
the  bills.  So  that,  even  out  of  the  province,  the  knowl- 
edge that  every  man  within  that  province,  is  obliged  to 
take  its  money,  gives  the  bills  a  credit  among  its  neigh- 
bours, nearly  equal  to  what  they  have  at  home.  And, 
were  it  not  for  the  laws  here  [in  England],  that  restrain 
or  prohibit  as  much  as  possible  all  losing  trades,  the 
cash  of  this  country  would  soon  be  exported.  Every 
merchant,  who  had  occasion  to  remit  it,  would  run  to  the 
bank  with  all  its  bills  that  came  into  his  hands,  and  take 
out  his  part  of  its  treasure  for  that  purpose ;  so  that,  in 
a  short  time,  it  would  be  no  more  able  to  pay  bills  in 
money  upon  sight,  than  it  is  now  in  the  power  of  a 
colony  treasury  so  to  do.  And,  if  government  afterwards 
should  have  occasion  for  the  credit  of  the  bank,  it  must 
of  necessity  make  its  bills  a  legal  tender ;  funding  them 
however  on  taxes,  by  which  they  may  in  time  be  paid 
off ;  as  has  been  the  general  practice  in  the  colonies. 

At  this  very  time  even  the  silver  money  in  England 
is  obliged  to  the  legal  tender  for  part  of  its  value  ;  that 
part  which  is  the  difference  between  its  real  weight  and 
its  denomination.  Great  part  of  the  shillings  and  six- 
pences now  current  are,  by  wearing,  become  five,  ten, 
twenty,  and  some  of  the  sixpences  even  fifty  per  cent 
too  light.  For  this  difference  between  the  real  and  the 
nominal,  you  have  no  intrinsic  value ;  you  have  not  so 
much  as  paper,  you  have  nothing.  It  is  the  legal  ten- 
der, with  the  knowledge  that  it  can  easily  be  repass- 
ed  for  the  same  value,  that  makes  three-pennyworth 
of  silver  pass  for  sixpence.  Gold  and  silver  have  un- 
doubtedly some  properties  that  give  them  a  fitness 
above  paper  as  a  medium  of  exchange ;  particularly 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  349 

their  universal  estimation ;  especially  in  cases  where  a 
country  has  occasion  to  carry  its  money  abroad,  either 
as  a  stock  to  trade  with,  or  to  purchase  allies  and 
foreign  succours ;  otherwise  that  very  universal  estima- 
tion is  an  inconvenience  which  paper  money  is  free 
from  ;  since  it  tends  to  deprive  a  country  of  even  the 
quantity  of  currency  that  should  be  retained  as  a  neces- 
sary instrument  of  its  internal  commerce,  and  obliges  it 
to  be  continually  on  its  guard  in  making  and  executing, 
at  great  expense,  the  laws  that  are  to  prevent  the  trade 
which  exports  it. 

Paper  money  well  funded  has  another  great  advan- 
tage over  gold  and  silver ;  its  lightness  of  carriage,  and 
the  little  room  that  is  occupied  by  a  great  sum ;  where- 
by it  is  capable  of  being  more  easily  and  more  safely, 
because  more  privately,  conveyed  from  place  to  place. 
Gold  and  silver  are  not  intrinsically  of  equal  Value  with 
iron,  a  metal,  in  itself,  capable  of  many  more  beneficial 
uses  to  mankind.  Their  value  rests  chiefly  in  the  esti- 
mation they  happen  to  be  in  among  the  generality  of 
nations,  and  the  credit  given  to  the  opinion  that  that 
estimation  will  continue.  Otherwise  a  pound  of  gold 
would  not  be  a  real  equivalent  for  even  a  bushel  of 
wheat.  Any  other  well-founded  credit  is  as  much  an 
equivalent  as  gold  and  silver ;  and  in  some  cases  more 
so,  or  it  would  not  be  preferred  by  commercial  people 
in  different  countries.  Not  to  mention  again  our  own 
bank  bills,  Holland,  which  understands  the  value  of 
cash  as  well  as  any  people  in  the  world,  would  never 
part  with  gold  and  silver  for  credit  (as  they  do  when 
they  put  it  into  their  bank,  from  whence  little  ot  it  is 
ever  afterwards  drawn  out),*  if  they  did  not  think  and 
find  the  credit  a  full  equivalent. 

*  Perhaps  Dr.  Franklin  had  not,  at  this  time,  read  what  Sir 
Stewart  says  of  the  Amsterdam  bank  re -issuing  Us  money.  —  B.  V. 


350  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

The  fifth  reason  is,  "  That  debtors,  in  the  Assemblies, 
make  paper  money  with  fraudulent  views."  This  is 
often  said  by  the  adversaries  of  paper  money,  and,  if  it 
has  been  the  case  in  any  particular  colony,  that  colony 
should,  on  proof  of  the  fact,  be  duly  punished.  This, 
however,  would  be  no  reason  for  punishing  other  col- 
onies, who  have  not  so  abused  their  legislative  pow- 
ers* To  deprive  all  the  colonies  of  the  convenience  of 
paper  money,  because  it  has  been  charged  on  some  of 
them,  that  they  have  made  it  an  instrument  of  fraud,  is 
as  if  all  the  India,  bank,  and  other  stocks  and  trading 
companies  were  to  be  abolished,  because  there  have 
been,  once  in  an  age,  Mississippi  and  South  Sea 
schemes  and  bubbles. 

The  sixth  and  last  reason  is,  "  That  in  the  middle 
colonies,  where  the  paper  money  has  been  best  support- 
ed, the  bills  have  never  kept  to  their  nominal  value  in 
circulation  ;  but  have  constantly  depreciated  to  a  certain 
degree,  whenever  the  quantity  has  been  increased."  If 
the  rising  of  the  value  of  any  particular  commodity, 
wanted  for  exportation,  is  to  be  considered  as  a  depre- 
ciation of  the  values  of  whatever  remains  in  the  country ; 
then  the  rising  of  silver  above  paper  to  that  height  of 
additional  value,  which  its  capability  of  exportation  only 
gave  it,  may  be  called  a  depreciation  of  the  paper. 
Even  here,  as  bullion  has  been  wanted  or  not  wanted 
for  exportation,  its  price  has  varied  from  5s.  2d.  to  5s. 
Sd.  per  ounce.  This  is  near  ten  per  cent.  But  was  it 
ever  said  or  thought  on  such  an  occasion,  that  all  the 
bank  bills,  and  all  the  coined  silver,  and  all  the  gold  in 
the  kingdom,  were  depreciated  ten  per  cent  ?  Coined 
silver  is  now  wanted  here  for  change,  and  one  per  cent 
is  given  for  it  by  some  bankers ;  are  gold  and  bank 
notes  therefore  depreciated  one  per  cent  ? 

The  fact  in  the  middle  colonies  is  really  this.  On  the 
emission  of  the  first  paper  money,  a  difference  soon  arose 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  351 

Between  that  and  silver ;  the  latter  having  a  property 
the  former  had  not,  a  property  always  in  demand  in  the 
colonies,  to  wit,  its  being  fit  for  a  remittance.  This 
property  having  soon  found  its  value  by  the  merchants 
bidding  on  one  another  for  it,  and  a  dollar  thereby 
coming  to  be  rated  at  eight  shillings  in  paper  money  of 
New  York,  and  7s.  6d.  in  paper  of  Pennsylvania,  it 
has  Continued  uniformly  at  those  rates  in  both  provinces 
now  near  forty  years,  without  any  variation  upon  new 
emissions  ;  though  in  Pennsylvania  the  paper  currency 
has  at  times  increased  from  £15,000  the  first  sum,  to 
=€600,000,  or  near  it.  Nor  has  any  alteration  been 
occasioned,  by  the  paper  money,  in  the  price  of  the 
necessaries  of  life,  when  compared  with  silver.  They 
have  been  for  the  greatest  part  of  the  time  no  higher 
than  before  it  was  emitted  ;  varying  only  by  plenty  and 
scarcity,  according  to  the  seasons,  or  by  a  less  or  great- 
er foreign  demand.  It  has  indeed  been  usual,  with  the 
adversaries  of  a  paper  currency,  to  call  every  rise  of 
exchange  with  London  a  depreciation  of  the  paper; 
but  this  notion  appears  to  be  by  no  means  just ;  for,  if 
the  paper  purchases  every  thing  but  bills  of  exchange 
at  the  former  rate,  and  these  bills  are  not  above  one- 
tenth  of  what  is  employed  in  purchases,  then  it  may 
be  more  properly  and  truly  said,  that  the  exchange  has 
risen,  than  that  the  paper  has  depreciated.  And,  as  a 
proof  of  this,  it  is  a  certain  fact,  that,  whenever  in  those 
colonies  bills  of  exchange  have  been  dearer,  the  pur- 
chaser has  been  constantly  obliged  to  give  more  in 
silver,  as  well  as  in  paper,  for  them ;  the  silver  having 
gone  hand  in  hand  with  the  paper,  at  the  rate  above 
mentioned ;  and  therefore  it  might  as  well  have  been 
said,  that  the  silver  was  depreciated. 

There  have  been  several  different  schemes  for  fur- 
nishing the  colonies  with  paper  money,  that  should  not 
He  a  legal  tender,  viz. 


352  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

1.  To  form  a  bank,  in  imitation  of  the  Bank  of  Eng- 
land, with  a  sufficient  stock  of  cash  to  pay  the  bills  on 
sight. 

This  has  been  often  proposed,  but  appears  impracti- 
cable, under  the  present  circumstances  of  the  colony 
trade ;  which,  as  is  said  above,  draws  all  the  cash  to 
Britain,  and  would  soon  strip  the  bank. 

2.  To   raise   a  fund  by   some  yearly   tax,   securely 
lodged  in  the  Bank  of  England  as  it  arises,  which  should 
(during  the  term  of  years  for  which  the  paper  bills  are 
to  be  current)  accumulate  to  a  sum  sufficient  to  discharge 
them  all  at  their  original  value. 

This  has  been  tried  in  Maryland ;  and  the  bills  so 
funded  were  issued  without  being  made  a  general  legal 
tender.  The  event  was,  that,  as  notes  payable  in  time 
are  naturally  subject  to  a  discount  proportioned  to  the 
time,  so  these  bills  fell  at  the  beginning  of  the  term  so 
low,  as  that  twenty  pounds  of  them  became  worth  no 
more  than  twelve  pounds  in  Pennsylvania,  the  next 
neighbouring  province ;  though  both  had  been  struck 
near  the  same  time,  at  the  same  nominal  value,  but  the 
latter  was  supported  by  the  general  legal  tender.  The 
Maryland  bills,  however,  began  to  rise  as  the  term 
shortened,  and  towards  the  end  recovered  their  full 
value.  But,  as  a  depreciating  currency  injures  creditors, 
(his  injured  debtors  ;  and,  by  its  continually  changing 
value,  appears  unfit  for  the  purpose  of  money,  which 
should  be  as  fixed  as  possible  in  its  own  value ;  because 
it  is  to  be  the  measure  of  the  value  of  other  things. 

3.  To  make  the  bills  carry  an  interest  sufficient  to 
support  their  value. 

This  too  has  been  tried  in  some  of  the  New  England 
colonies  ;  but  great  inconvenience  was  found  to  attend 
it.  The  bills,  to  fit  them  for  a  currency,  are  made  of 
various  denominations  ;  and  some  very  low,  for  the  sake 
of  change;  there  are  of  them  from  £10  down  to  3d. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  353 

When  they  first  come  abroad,  they  pass  easily,  and 
answer  the  purpose  well  enough  for  a  few  months ;  but, 
as  soon  as  the  interest  becomes  worth  computing,  the 
calculation  of  it  on  every  little  bill,  in  a  sum  between  the 
dealer  and  his  customers  in  shops,  warehouses,  and 
markets,  takes  up  much  time,  to  the  great  hinderance  of 
business.  This  evil,  however,  soon  gave  place  to  a 
\vorse ;  for  the  bills  were  in  a  short  time  gathered  up 
and  hoarded ;  it  being  a  very  tempting  advantage  to 
have  money  bearing  interest,  and  the  principal  all  the 
while  in  a  man's  power,  ready  for  bargains  that  may 
offer ;  which  money  out  on  mortgage  is  not.  By  this 
means  numbers  of  people  became  usurers  with  small 
sums,  who  could  not  have  found  persons  to  take  such 
sums  of  them  upon  interest,  giving  good  security ; 
and  would  therefore  not  have  thought  of  it ;  but  would 
rather  have  employed  the  money  in  some  business,  if  it 
had  been  money  of  the  common  kind.  Thus  trade, 
instead  of  being  increased  by  such  bills,  is  diminished ; 
and,  by  their  being  shut  up  in  chests,  the  very  end  of 
making  them  (viz.  to  furnish  a  medium  of  commerce) 
is  in  a  great  measure,  if  not  totally,  defeated.  * 

*  I  understand  that  Dr.  Franklin  is  the  friend  who  assisted  Governor 
Pownall  in  drawing  up  a  plan  for  a  general  paper  currency  for  America, 
to  be  established  by  the  British  government.  See  POWELL'S  Administra- 
tion of  the  Colonies,  5th  edition,  pp.  199,  208.  —  B.  V. 

The  paper  money  first  issued  by  the  colonial  Assemblies  was  made  ti 
legal  tender.  The  excessive  issues  in  some  of  the  colonies  caused  a  great 
depreciation  in  the  value  of  the  bills,  and  thus  produced  mischievous  con- 
sequences. To  remedy  the  evil,  an  act  of  Parliament  was  passed,  pro- 
hibiting the  colonies  from  issuing  any  more  paper  money,  which  should 
be  a  legal  tender.  At  the  same  time  that  this  act  removed  one  difficulty,  it 
raised  up  another.  In  the  fluctuating  state  of  things  in  the  colonies,  the 
credit  of  the  bills  could  not  be  sustained  in  any  degree,  unless  the  people 
were  required  to  take  them  at  their  actual  value.  It  then  became  a 
matter  of  importance,  that  Parliament,  should  provide  some  means  for 
giving  stability  to  a  paper  currency  in  the  colonies.  Governor  Pownall, 

VOL.  ii.  23 


354  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

On  the  whole,  no  method  has  hitherto  been  formed 
to  establish  a  medium  of  trade,  in  lieu  of  money,  equal, 
in  all  its  advantages,  to  bills  of  credit,  funded  on  suffi- 
cient taxes  for  discharging  it,  or  on  land  security  of 
double  the  value  for  repaying  it  at  the  end  of  the  term, 
and  in  the  mean  time  made  a  GENERAL  LEGAL  TENDER. 
The  experience  of  now  near  half  a  century  in  the  middle 
colonies,  has  convinced  them  of  it  among  themselves, 
by  the  great  increase  of  their  settlements,  numbers, 
buildings,  improvements,  agriculture,  shipping,  and  com- 
merce. And  the  same  experience  has  satisfied  the 
British  merchants,  who  trade  thither,  that  it  has  been 
greatly  useful  to  them,  and  not  in  a  single  instance  pre- 
judicial. 

It  is  therefore  hoped,  that,  securing  the  full  discharge 
of  British  debts,  which  are  payable  here,  and  in  all  jus- 
tice and  reason  ought  to  be  fully  discharged  here,  in 
sterling  money,  the  restraint  on  the  legal  tender  within 
the  colonies  will  be  taken  off;  at  least  for  those  colo- 
nies that  desire  it,  and  where  the  merchants  trading  to 
them  make  no  objection  to  it. 

in  conjunction  with  Dr.  Franklin,  proposed  a  plan  for  this  object.  Speak- 
ing of  this  proposal,  Governor  Pownall  says.  "  So  far  am  I  from  assuming 
any  merit  in  the  invention  or  framing  of  it,  that  I  desire  it  may  be 
considered  as  founded  on  what  hath  been  actually  practised  in  Penn- 
sylvania, by  the  good  sense  and  good  policy  of  the  Assembly  of  that  pro- 
vince, with  success  and  with  benefit  to  the  public  ;  that  the  particular 
proposal,  as  it  is  now  formed,  and  applied  to  the  present  exigencies  of 
America  and  Great  Britain,  was  drawn  up  some  years  ago,  in  conjunction 
with  a  friend  of  mine,  and  of  the  colonies.  It  was,  by  us,  jointly  proposed 
to  government,  under  successive  administrations,  in  the  years  1764, 17C5, 
1766,  during  which  time  the  publication  was  suspended." 

The  principal  outlines  of  this  plan  were,  that  bills  of  credit  to  a  certain 
amount  should  be  printed  in  England,  for  the  use  of  the  colonies ;  that  a 
loan-office  should  be  erected  in  each  colony  to  issue  bills,  take  securities, 
and  receive  the  payments ;  that  the  bills  should  be  issued  for  ten  years, 
bearing  interest  at  five  per  cent,  one  tenth  part  of  the  sum  borrowed  to  be 
paid  annually,  with  the  interest ;  and  that  they  should  be  a  legal  tender. — 

F.DITOR. 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  355 

ON  THE 
PRICE  OF  CORN,  AND  MANAGEMENT  OF  THE  POOR 


The  following  extracts  from  a  letter,  signed  COLUMKLLA,  and  ad- 
dressed to  the  editors  of  The  Repository  for  select  Papers  on  Ag- 
riculture, Arts,  and  Manufactures  (Vol.  I.  p.  352),  will  serve  the 
purpose  of  preparing  those  who  read  it,  for  entering  upon  this  paper. 
"  GENTLEMEN, 

"  There  is  now  publishing  in  France  a  periodical  work,  called 
Ephemerides  du  Citoyen,  in  which  several  points,  interesting  to 
those  concerned  in  agriculture,  are  from  time  to  time  discussed  by 
some  able  hands.  In  looking  over  one  of  the  volumes  of  this  work  a 
few  days  ago,  I  found  a  little  piece  written  by  one  of  our  countrymen, 
and  which  our  vigilant  neighbours  had  taken  from  The  London 
Chronicle  in  1766.  The  author  is  a  gentleman  well  known  to 
every  man  of  letters  in  Europe ;  and  perhaps  there  is  none,  in  this 
age,  to  whom  mankind  in  general  are  more  indebted.  That  this 
piece  may  not  be  lost  to  our  own  country,  I  beg  you  will  give  it  a 
place  in  your  Repository.  It  was  written  in  favor  of  the  farmers, 
when  they  suffered  so  much  abuse  in  our  public  papers,  and  were 
also  plundered  by  the  mob  in  many  places."  —  B.  V. 

It  is  to  be  kept  in  mind  that  this  paper,  and  the  one  which  follows 
it,  were  written  in  England.  —  EDITOR. 


TO  MESSIEURS  THE    PUBLIC. 

I  am  one  of  that  class  of  people,  that  feeds  you  all, 
and  at  present  is  abused  by  you  all ;  in  short  I  am  a 
farmer. 

By  your  newspapers  we  are  told,  that  God  had  sent 
a  very  short  harvest  to  some  other  countries  of  Europe. 
I  thought  this  might  be  in  favor  of  Old  England ;  and 
that  now  we  should  get  a  good  price  for  our  grain, 
which  would  bring  millions  among  us,  and  make  us 
flow  in  money ;  that  to  be  sure  is  scarce  enough. 


356  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

But  the  wisdom  of  government  forbade  the  export- 
ation.* 

"Well,"  says  I,  "then  we  must  be  content  with  the 
market  price  at  home." 

"No;"  say  my  lords  the  mob,  "you  sha'nt  have  that. 
Bring  your  corn  to  market  if  you  dare ;  we  '11  sell  it  for 
you  for  less  money,  or  take  it  for  nothing. " 

Being  thus  attacked  by  both  ends  of  the  constitution, 
the  head  and  tail  of  government,  what  am  I  to  do  ? 

Must  I  keep  my  corn  in  the  barn,  to  feed  and  in- 
crease the  breed  of  rats  1  Be  it  so ;  they  cannot  be 
less  thankful  than  those  I  have  been  used  to  feed. 

Are  we  farmers  the  only  people  to  be  grudged  the 
profits  of  our  honest  labor  ?  And  why  1  One  of  the 
late  scribblers  against  us  gives  a  bill  of  fare  of  the  pro- 
visions at  my  daughter's  wedding,  and  proclaims  to  all 
the  world,  that  we  had  the  insolence  to  eat  beef  and 
pudding  !  Has  he  not  read  the  precept  in  the  good 
Book,  Thou  shall  not  muzzle  the  mouth  of  the  ox  that 
treadeth  out  the  corn ;  or  does  he  think  us  less  worthy 
of  good  living  than  our  oxen  ? 

"  O,  but  the  manufacturers !  the  manufacturers !  they 
are  to  be  favored,  and  they  must  have  bread  at  a  cheap 
rate!" 

Hark  ye,  Mr.  Oaf;  the  farmers  live  splendidly,  you 
say.  And  pray,  would  you  have  them  hoard  the  money 
they  get  ?  Their  fine  clothes  and  furniture,  do  they 
make  them  themselves,  or  for  one  another,  and  so  keep 
the  money  among  them  ?  Or  do  they  employ  these 
your  darling  manufacturers,  and  so  scatter  it  again  all 
over  the  nation  ? 

*  It  is  not  necessary  to  repeat  in  what  degree  Dr.  Franklin  respected 
the  ministers  to  whom  he  alludes.  The  embargo  upon  corn  was  but  a 
single  measure,  which,  it  is  enough  to  say,  a  host  of  politicians  thought 
well  advised,  but  ill  defended.  Of  the  great  and  honorable  services  of 
the  Earl  of  Chatham  to  his  country,  Dr.  Franklin  has  borne  the  amplest 
testimony.  —  B.  V. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  357 

The  wool  would  produce  me  a  better  price,  if  it  were 
Buffered  to  go  to  foreign  markets ;  but  that,  Messieurs 
'he  Public,  your  laws  will  not  permit.  It  must  be  kept 
nil  at  home,  that  our  dear  manufacturers  may  have  it 
the  cheaper.  And  then,  having  yourselves  thus  lessen- 
ed our  encouragement  for  raising  sheep,  you  curse  us 
for  the  scarcity  of  mutton  ! 

I  have  heard  my  grandfather  say,  that  the  farmers 
submitted  to  the  prohibition  on  the  exportation  of  wool, 
being  made  to  expect  and  believe,  that,  when  the  manu- 
facturer bought  his  wool  cheaper,  they  should  also  have 
their  cloth  cheaper.  But  the  deuce  a  bit.  It  has  been 
growing  dearer  and  dearer  from  that  day  to  this.  How 
so  ?  Why,  truly,  the  cloth  is  exported  ;  and  that  keeps 
up  the  price. 

Now,  if  it  be  a  good  principle,  that  the  exportation  ol 
a  commodity  is  to  be  restrained,  that  so  our  people  at 
home  may  have  it  the  cheaper,  stick  to  that  principle, 
and  go  thorough-stitch  with  it.  Prohibit  the  exportation 
of  your  cloth,  your  leather,  and  shoes,  your  iron  ware, 
and  your  manufactures  of  all  sorts,  to  make  them  all 
cheaper  at  home.  And  cheap  enough  they  will  be,  I 
will  warrant  you ;  till  people  leave  off  making  them. 

Some  folks  seem  to  think  they  ought  never  to  be 
easy  till  England  becomes  another  Lubberland,  where  it 
is  fancied  that  streets  are  paved  with  penny-rolls,  the 
houses  tiled  with  pancakes,  and  chickens,  ready  roasted, 
cry,  "  Come  eat  me." 

I  say,  when  you  are  sure  you  have  got  a  good  princi- 
ple, stick  to  it,  and  carry  it  through.  I  hear  it  is  said, 
that  though  it  was  necessary  and  right  for  the  ministry 
to  advise  a  prohibition  of  the  exportation  of  corn,  yet  it 
was  contrary  to  law  ;  and  also,  that  though  it  was  contrary 
to  law  for  the  mob  to  obstruct  wagons,  yet  it  was  ne- 
cessary and  right.  Just  the  same  thing  to  a  tittle.  Now 


358  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

they  tell  me,  an  act  of  indemnity  ought  to  pass  in  favor 
of  the  ministry,  to  secure  them  from  the  consequences 
of  having  acted  illegally.  If  so,  pass  another  in  favor 
of  the  mob.  Others  say,  some  of  the  mob  ought  to  be 
hanged,  by  way  of  example.  If  so, — but  I  say  no  more 
than  I  have  said  before,  when  you  are  sure  that  you  have 
a  good  principle,  go  through  with  it. 

You  say,  poor  laborers  cannot  afford  to  buy  bread 
at  a  high  price,  unless  they  had  higher  wages.  Possi- 
bly. But  how  shall  we  farmers  be  able  to  afford  our 
laborers  higher  wages,  if  you  will  not  allow  us  to  get, 
when  we  might  have  it,  a  higher  price  for  our  corn  ? 

By  all  that  I  can  learn,  we  should  at  least  have  had  a 
guinea  a  quarter  more,  if  the  exportation  had  been  al- 
lowed. And  this  money  England  would  have  got  from 
foreigners. 

But,  it  seems,  we  farmers  must  take  so  much  less 
that  the  poor  may  have  it  so  much  cheaper. 

This  operates,  then,  as  a  tax  for  the  maintenance  of 
the  poor.  A  very  good  thing  you  will  say.  But  I  ask, 
Why  a  partial  tax  ?  why  laid  on  us  farmers  only  ?  If  it 
be  a  good  thing,  pray,  Messieurs  the  Public,  take  your 
share  of  it,  by  indemnifying  us  a  little  out  of  your  pub- 
lic treasury.  In  doing  a,  good  thing,  there  is  both  honor 
and  pleasure ;  you  are  welcome  to  your  share  of  both. 

For  my  own  part,  I  am  not  so  well  satisfied  of  the 
goodness  of  this  thing.  I  am  for  doing  good  to  the 
poor,  but  I  differ  in  opinion  about  the  means.  I  think 
the  best  way  of  doing  good  to  the  poor,  is,  not  making 
them  easy  in  poverty,  but  leading  or  driving  them  out 
of  it.  In  my  youth,  I  travelled  much,  and  I  observed 
in  different  countries,  that  the  more  public  provisions 
were  made  for  the  poor,  the  less  they  provided  for 
themselves,  and  of  course  became  poorer.  And,  on  the 
Contrary,  the  less  was  done  for  them,  the  more  they  did 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  359 

for  themselves,  and  became  richer.  There  is  no  country 
in  the  world  where  so  many  provisions  are  establish- 
ed for  them  ;  so  many  hospitals  to  receive  them  when 
they  are  sick  or  lame,  founded  and  maintained  by  vol- 
untary charities ;  so  many  almshouses  for  the  aged  of 
both  sexes,  together  with  a  solemn  general  law  made  by 
the  rich  to  subject  their  estates  to  a  heavy  tax  for  the 
support  of  the  poor.  Under  all  these  obligations,  are 
our  poor  modest,  humble,  and  thankful  ?  And  do  the} 
use  their  best  endeavours  to  maintain  themselves,  and 
lighten  our  shoulders  of  this  burthen  ?  On  the  contra- 
ry, I  affirm,  that  there  is  no  country  in  the  world  in 
which  the  poor  are  more  idle,  dissolute,  drunken,  and 
insolent.  The  day  you  passed  that  act,  you  took  away 
from  before  their  eyes  the  greatest  of  all  inducements 
to  industry,  frugality,  and  sobriety,  by  giving  them  a 
dependence  on  somewhat  else  than  a  careful  accumula- 
tion during  youth  and  health,  for  support  in  age  or 
sickness. 

In  short,  you  offered  a  premium  for  the  encourage- 
ment of  idleness,  and  you  should  not  now  wonder,  that 
it  has  had  its  effect  in  the  increase  of  poverty.  Repeal 
that  law,  and  you  will  soon  see  a  change  in  their  man- 
ners. Saint  Monday  and  Saint  Tuesday  will  soon 
cease  to  be  holidays.  Six  clays  shaft  thou  labor,  though 
one  of  the  old  commandments  long  treated  as  out  of 
date,  will  again  be  looked  upon  as  a  respectable  precept ; 
industry  will  increase,  and  with  it  plenty  among  the 
lower  people ;  their  circumstances  will  mend,  and  more 
will  be  done  for  their  happiness  by  inuring  them  to  pro- 
vide for  themselves,  than  could  be  done  by  dividing  all 
your  estates  among  them. 

Excuse  me,  Messieurs  the  Public,  if,  upon  this  inter- 
esting subject,  I  put  you  to  the  trouble  of  reading  a 
little  of  my  nonsense.  I  am  sure  I  have  lately  read  a 


360  FRANKLIN'S    WR    TINGS. 

great  deal  of  yours,  and  therefore  from  you  (at 
from  those  of  you  who  are  writers)  I  deserve  a  little 
indulgence. 

I  am  yours,  &c.  ARATOR.* 

*  This  is  an  admirably  written  paper.  The  views  taken  of  prohibitions 
of  the  exportation  of  particular  articles  are  just,  and  at  present  not  ques- 
tioned by  intelligent  legislators  and  political  economists. 

This  paper  was  published  nine  years  before  the  "  Wealth  of  Nations" 
and  takes  the  same  view  of  the  English  poor-laws  that  is  taken  in  thai 
work.  It  has  prevailed  to  the  present  time  among  the  disciples  of  Adam 
Smith,  by  some  of  whom,  particularly  Mr.  Malthus,  it  is  maintained,  that 
population  must  be  starved  down  to  the  limits  of  the  means  of  subsist- 
ence, the  natural  inference  from  their  reasoning  being,  that,  as  this  fate  im- 
pends over  the  human  race  at  all  places  and  times,  it  is  in  vain  to  struggle 
against  it  by  public  or  private  charity.  This  is  a  result  from  which  the 
characteristic  philanthropy  of  Franklin  would  have  revolted.  He  certain- 
ly would  not  have  maintained  that  the  resourceless  sick,  maimed,  poor, 
and  those  destitute  of  the  discretion  requisite  to  support  themselves, 
should,  like  aged  persons  among  the  Chinese  and  among  some  barbarous 
nations,  be  abandoned  to  perish  of  want.  And  if  he  did  not  maintain  this 
doctrine,  the  only  course  left  is  to  make  some  provision  for  them,  and  cer- 
tainly such  provision  is  more  equitably  made  by  an  assessment  upon  the 
community,  according  to  the  means  of  each  member,  than  in  any  other 
way.  The  result  would  be  a  provision  by  law  for  enabling  and  compel- 
ling the  poor  to  support  themselves  as  far  as  practicable,  and  making  up 
the  deficiency  for  a  moderate  and  meagre  subsistence  by  an  equitable 
assessment  upon  the  other  members  of  the  community.  The  evils  of 
mendicity  gave  rise  to  the  poor-laws  ;  the  ill-judged  provisions,  but  much 
more  the  abuses  in  the  administration,  of  those  laws  have  been  a  pre- 
tence for  rushing  back  to  the  former  extreme  of  mendicity,  and  the  mis- 
erable spectacle  of  multitudes  perishing  of  want.  But  the  sentiments 
of  humanity,  no  less  than  the  morals  and  manners  of  well-regulated 
civil  society,  forbid  this.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  361 

ON  SMUGGLING,  AND  ITS  VARIOUS  SPECIES. 


This  letter  is  extracted  from  The  London  Chronicle,  for  Novern- 
l>er  24th,  1767,  and  is  addressed  to  the  printer  of  that  newspaper 
— B.  V. 


SIR, 

There  are  many  people  that  would  be  thought,  and 
even  think  themselves,  honest  men,  who  fail  neverthe- 
less in  particular  points  of  honesty  ;  deviating  from  that 
character  sometimes  by  the  prevalence  of  mode  or  cus- 
tom, and  sometimes  through  mere  inattention  ;  so  that 
their  honesty  is  partial  only,  and  not  general  or  universal. 
Thus  one,  who  would  scorn  to  overreach  you  in  a 
bargain,  shall  make  no  scruple  of  tricking  you  a  little 
now  and  then  at  cards;  another,  that  plays  with  the 
utmost  fairness,  shall  with  great  freedom  cheat  you  in 
the  sale  of  a  horse.  But  there  is  no  kind  of  dishon- 
esty, into  which  otherwise  good  people  more  easily  and 
frequently  fall,  than  that  of  defrauding  government  of 
its  revenues  by  smuggling  when  they  have  an  opportu- 
nity, or  encouraging  smugglers  by  buying  their  goods. 

I  fell  into  these  reflections  the  other  day,  on  hearing 
two  gentlemen  of  reputation  discoursing  about  a  small 
estate,  which  one  of  them  was  inclined  to  sell,  and  the 
other  to  buy ;  when  the  seller,  in  recommending  the 
place,  remarked,  that  its  situation  was  very  advanta- 
geous on  this  account,  that,  being  on  the  sea-coast  in  a 
smuggling  country,  one  had  frequent  opportunities  of 
buying  many  of  the  expensive  articles  used  in  a  family 
(such  as  tea,  coffee,  chocolate,  brandy,  wines,  cambrics, 
Brussels  laces,  French  silks,  and  all  kinds  of  India 
goods,)  twenty,  thirty,  and  in  some  articles  fifty  per 
cent  cheaper  than  they  could  be  had  in  the  more  mteri 


362  FRANKLIN'S     WRITINGS. 

or  parts,  of  traders  that  paid  duty.  The  other  honest 
gentleman  allowed  this  to  be  an  advantage,  but  insisted, 
that  the  seller,  in  the  advanced  price  he  demanded  on 
that  account,  rated  the  advantage  much  above  its  value. 
And  neither  of  them  seemed  to  think  dealing  with 
smugglers  a  practice,  that  an  honest  man  (provided  he 
got  his  goods  cheap)  had  the  least  reason  to  be  asham- 
ed of. 

At  a  time  when  the  load  of  our  public  debt,  and  the 
heavy  expense  of  maintaining  our  fleets  and  armies  to 
be  ready  for  our  defence  on  occasion,  make  it  necessa- 
ry, not  only  to  continue  old  taxes,  but  often  to  look  out 
for  new  ones,  perhaps  it  may  not  be  unuseful  to  state 
this  matter  in  a  light,  that  few  seem  to  have  considered 
it  in. 

The  people  of  Great  Britain,  under  the  happy  consti- 
tution of  this  country,  have  a  privilege  few  other  coun- 
tries enjoy,  that  of  choosing  a  third  branch  of  the  legis- 
lature, which  branch  has  alone  the  power  of  regulating 
their  taxes.  Now,  whenever  the  government  finds  it 
necessary  for  the  common  benefit,  advantage,  and  safety 
of  the  nation,  for  the  security  of  our  liberties,  property, 
religion,  and  every  thing  that  is  dear  to  us,  that  certain 
sums  shall  be  yearly  raised  by  taxes,  duties,  &c.,  and 
paid  into  the  public  treasury,  thence  to  be  dispensed  by 
government  for  those  purposes  ;  ought  not  every  honest 
man  freely  and  willingly  to  pay  his  just  proportion  of 
this  necessary  expense  ?  Can  he  possibly  preserve  a 
right  to  that  character,  if,  by  fraud,  stratagem,  or  contriv- 
ance, he  avoids  that  payment  in  whole  or  in  part. 

What  should  we  think  of  a  companion,  who,  having 
supped  with  his  friends  at  a  tavern,  and  partaken  equally 
of  the  joys  of  the  evening  with  the  rest  of  us,  would 
nevertheless  contrive  by  some  artifice  to  shift  his  share 
of  the  reckoning  upon  others,  in  order  to  go  off 
scotfree  ?  If  a  man  who  practised  this  would,  when 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  363 

defected,  be  deemed  and  called  a  scoundrel,  what  ought 
he  to  be  called,  who  can  enjoy  ^ all  the  inestimable  bene- 
fits of  public  society,  and  yet  by  smuggling,  or  dealing 
with  smugglers,  contrive  to  evade  paying  his  just  share 
of  the  expense,  as  settled  by  his  own  representatives  in 
Parliament,  and  wrongfully  throw  it  upon  his  honester 
and  perhaps  much  poorer  neighbours  ?  He  will  perhaps 
be  ready  to  tell  me,  that  he  does  not  wrong  his  neigh- 
bours ;  he  scorns  the  imputation  ;  he  only  cheats  the  King 
a  little,  who  is  very  able  to  bear  it.  This,  however,  is  a 
mistake.  The  public  treasure  is  the  treasure  of  the 
nation,  to  be  applied  to  national  purposes.  And  when 
a  duty  is  laid  for  a  particular  public  and  necessary  pur- 
pose, if,  through  smuggling,  that  duty  falls  short  of  rais- 
ing the  sum  required,  and  other  duties  must  therefore 
be  laid  to  make  up  the  deficiency,  all  the  additional  sum 
laid  by  the  new  duties  and  paid  by  other  people,  though 
it  should  amount  to  no  more  than  a  half-penny  or  a 
farthing  per  head,  is  so  much  actually  picked  out  of  the 
pockets  of  those  other  people  by  the  smugglers  and 
their  abettors  and  encouragers.  Are  they  then  any 
better  or  other  than  pickpockets  ?  And  what  mean, 
low,  rascally  pickpockets  must  those  be,  that  can  pick 
pockets  for  half-pence  and  for  farthings  ? 

I  would  not,  however,  be  supposed  to  allow,  in  what 
I  have  just  said,  that  cheating  the  King  is  a  less  offence 
against  honesty,  than  cheating  the  public.  The  King 
and  the  public,  in  this  case,  are  different  names  for  the 
same  thing ;  but,  if  we  consider  the  King  distinctly,  it 
will  not  lessen  the  crime  ;  it  is  no  justification  of  a  rob- 
bery, that  the  person  robbed  was  rich  and  able  to  bear 
it.  The  King  has  as  much  right  to  justice  as  the 
meanest  of  his  subjects ;  and,  as  he  is  truly  the  common 
father  of  his  people,  those  that  rob  him  fall  under  the 


364  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

Scripture  woe,  pronounced  against  the  son  that  robbcth 
his  father,  and  saith  it  is  no  sin. 

Mean  as  this  practice  is,  do  we  not  daily  see  people 
of  character  and  fortune  engaged  in  it  for  trifling  advan- 
tages to  themselves  ?  Is  any  lady  ashamed  to  request 
of  a  gentleman  of  her  acquaintance,  that  when  he  re- 
turns from  abroad,  he  would  smuggle  her  home  a  piece 
of  silk  or  lace  from  France  or  Flanders  ?  Is  any  gen- 
tleman ashamed  to  undertake  and  execute  the  com- 
mission ?  Not  in  the  least.  They  will  talk  of  it  freely, 
even  before  others  whose  pockets  they  are  thus  contriv- 
ing to  pick  by  this  piece  of  knavery. 

Among  other  branches  of  the  revenue,  that  of  the  post  - 
office  is,  by  the  late  law,  appropriated  to  the  discharge 
of  our  public  debt,  to  defray  the  expenses  of  the  state. 
None  but  members  of  Parliament,  and  a  few  public 
officers,  have  now  a  right  to  avoid,  by  a  frank,  the  pay- 
ment of  postage.  When  any  letter,  not  written  by 
them  or  on  their  business,  is  franked  by  any  of  them,  it 
is  a  hurt  to  the  revenue,  an  injury  which  they  must  now 
take  the  pains  to  conceal  by  writing  the  whole  super- 
scription themselves.  And  yet  such  is  our  insensibility 
to  justice  in  this  particular,  that  nothing  is  more  common 
than  to  see,  even  in  reputable  company,  a  very  honest 
gentleman  or  lady  declare  his  or  her  intention  to  cheat 
the  nation  of  three  pence  by  a  frank,  and  without  blush- 
ing apply  to  one  of  the  very  legislators  themselves,  with 
a  modest  request,  that  he  would  be  pleased  to  become 
an  accomplice  in  the  crime,  and  assist  in  the  perpetration. 

There  are  those  who  by  these  practices  take  a  great 
deal  in  a  year  out  of  the  public  purse,  and  put  the  mon- 
ey into  their  own  private  pockets.  If,  passing  through  a 
room  where  public  treasure  is  deposited,  a  man  takes 
the  opportunity  of  clandestinely  pocketing  and  carrying 
off  a  guinea,  is  he  not  truly  and  properly  a  thief?  And 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  365 

if  another  evades  paying  into  the  treasury  a  guinea  he 
ought  to  pay  in,  and  applies  it  to  his  own  use,  when  he 
knows  it  belongs  to  the  public  as  much  as  that  which 
has  been  paid  in,  what  difference  is  there  in  the  nature 
of  the  crime,  or  the  baseness  of  committing  it  ? 

Some  laws  make  the  receiving  of  stolen  goods  equal- 
ly penal  with  stealing,  and  upon  this  principle,  that  if 
there  were  no  receivers,  there  would  be  few  thieves. 
Our  proverb  too  says  truly,  that  the  receiver  is  as  bad 
as  the  thief.  By  the  same  reasoning,  as  there  would  be 
few  smugglers,  if  there  were  none  who  knowingly  en- 
couraged them  by  buying  their  goods,  we  may  say,  that 
the  encouragers  of  smuggling  are  as  bad  as  the  smug- 
glers ;  and  that,  as  smugglers  are  a  kind  of  thieves, 
both  equally  deserve  the  punishment  of  thievery. 

In  this  view  of  wronging  the  revenue,  what  must  we 
think  of  those  who  can  evade  paying  for  their  wheels  * 
and  their  plate,  in  defiance  of  law  and  justice,  and  yet 
declaim  against  corruption  and  peculation,  as  if  their 
own  hands  and  hearts  were  pure  and  unsullied  ?  The 
Americans  offend  us  grievously,  when,  contrary  to  our 
laws,  they  smuggle  goods  into  their  own  country ;  and 
yet  they  had  no  hand  in  making  those  laws.  I  do  not 
however  pretend  from  thence  to  justify  them.  But  1 
think  the  offence  much  greater  in  those,  who  either  di- 
rectly or  indirectly  have  been  concerned  in  making  tht- 
very  laws  they  break.  And  when  I  hear  them  exclaim- 
ing against  the  Americans,  and  for  every  little  infringe- 
ment on  the  acts  of  trade,  or  obstruction  given  by  a  petty 
mob  to  an  officer  of  our  customs  in  that  country,  calling 
for  vengeance  against  the  whole  people  as  REBELS  and 
TRAITORS,  I  cannot  help  thinking  there  are  still  those 
in  the  world  who  can  see  a  mote  in  their  brother's  eye, 

*  Alluding  to  the  British  taxes  on   carriage-wheels  and  on  plate.  — 

UUANE. 


366  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

while  they  do  not  discern  a  beam  in  their  oum ;  and  thai 
the  old  saying  is  as  true  now  as  ever  it  was,  One  man 
may  better  steal  a  horse,  than  another  look  over  the  hedge. 

B.  F. 


NOTE 
RESPECTING  TRADE  AND  MANUFACTURES. 

London,  July  7,  17G7. 

SUPPOSE  a  country,  X,  with  three  manufactures,  as 
cloth,  silk,  iron,  supplying  three  other  countries,  A,  B, 
C,  but  is  desirous  of  increasing  the  vent,  and  raising  the 
price  of  cloth  in  favor  of  her  own  clothiers. 

In  order  to  this,  she  forbids  the  importation  of  foreign 
cloth  from  A. 

A,  in  return,  forbids  silks  from  X. 

Then  the  silk -workers  complain  of  a  decay  of  trade. 
And  X,  to  content  them,  forbids  silks  from  B. 

B,  in  return,  forbids  iron  ware  from  X. 
Then  the  iron-workers  complain  of  decay. 
And  X  forbids  the  importation  of  iron  from  C. 

C,  in  return,  forbids  cloth  from  X. 
What  is  got  by  all  these  prohibitions  ? 

Answer.  —  All  four  find  their  common  stock  of  the 
eniovments  and  conveniences  of  life  diminished. 

b.   F . 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  367 


ON    THE    LABORING    POOR. 

Communicated  to  the  Editor  of  a  Newspaper,  April,  1768 

SIR, 

I  have  met  with  much  invective  in  the  papers,  for 
these  two  years  past,  against  the  hard-heartedness  of 
the  rich,  and  much  complaint  of  the  great  oppressions 
suffered  in  this  country  by  the  laboring  poor.  Will  you 
admit  a  word  or  two  on  the  other  side  of  the  question  ? 
I  do  not  propose  to  be  an  advocate  for  oppression  or 
oppressors.  But  when  I  see  that  the  poor  are,  by  such 
writings,  exasperated  against  the  rich,  and  excited  to 
insurrections,  by  which  much  mischief  is  done,  and  some 
forfeit  their  lives,  I  could  wish  the  true  state  of  things 
were  better  understood,  the  poor  not  made  by  these 
busy  writers  more  uneasy  and  unhappy  than  their 
situation  subjects  them  to  be,  and  the  nation  not 
brought  into  disrepute  among  foreigners,  by  public 
groundless  accusations  of  ourselves,  as  if  the  rich  in 
England  had  no  compassion  for  the  poor,  and  English- 
men wanted  common  humanity. 

In  justice,  then,  to  this  country,  give  me  leave  to 
remark,  that  the  condition  of  the  poor  here  is,  by  far,  the 
best  in  Europe;  for  that,  except  in  England  and  her 
American  colonies,  there  is  not  in  any  country  of  the 
known  world,  not  even  in  Scotland  or  Ireland,  a  pro- 
vision by  law  to  enforce  a  support  of  the  poor.  Every- 
where else  necessity  reduces  to  beggary.  This  law 
was  not  made  by  the  poor.  The  legislators  were  men 
of  fortune.  By  that  act  they  voluntarily  subjected  their 
own  estates,  and  the  estates  of  all  others,  to  the  pay- 
ment of  a  tax  for  the  maintenance  of  the  poor,  encum  • 
bering  those  estates  with  a  kind  of  rent-charge  for  that 


368  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

purpose,  whereby  the  poor  are  vested  with  an  inherit- 
ance, as  it  were,  in  all  the  estates  of  the  rich.  I  wish 
they  were  benefited  by  this  generous  provision  in  any 
degree  equal  to  the  good  intention,  with  which  it  was 
made,  and  is  continued.  But  I  fear  the  giving  mankind 
a  dependence  on  any  thing  for  support,  in  age  or  sick- 
ness, besides  industry  and  frugality  during  youth  and 
health,  tends  to  flatter  our  natural  indolence,  to  encourage 
idleness  and  prodigality,  and  thereby  to  promote  and 
increase  poverty,  the  very  evil  it  was  intended  to  cure ; 
thus  multiplying  beggars  instead  of  diminishing  them. 

Besides  this  tax,  which  the  rich  in  England  have 
subjected  themselves  to,  in  behalf  of  the  poor,  amount- 
ing in  some  places  to  five  or  six  shillings  in  the  pound, 
of  the  annual  income,  they  have,  by  donations  and  sub- 
scriptions, erected  numerous  schools  in  various  parts  of 
the  kingdom,  for  educating,  gratis,  the  children  of  the 
poor  in  reading  and  writing;  and  in  many  of  those 
schools  the  children  are  also  fed  and  clothed.  They 
have  erected  hospitals  at  an  immense  expense  for  the 
reception  and  cure  of  the  sick,  the  lame,  the  wounded, 
and  the  insane  poor,  for  lying-in  women,  and  deserted 
children.  They  are  also  continually  contributing  to- 
wards making  up  losses  occasioned  by  fire,  by  storms, 
or  by  floods,  and  to  relieve  the  poor  in  severe  seasons 
of  frost,  in  times  of  scarcity,  &,c.,  in  which  benevolent 
and  charitable  contributions  no  nation  exceeds  us. 
Surely,  there  is  some  gratitude  due  for  so  many  in- 
stances of  goodness. 

Add  to  this  all  the  laws  made  to  discourage  foreign 
manufactures,  by  laying  heavy  duties  on  them,  or  totally 
prohibiting  them,  whereby  the  rich  are  obliged  to  pay 
much  higher  prices  for  what  they  wear  and  consume, 
than  if  the  trade  was  open.  These  are  so  many  laws  for 
the  support  of  our  laboring  poor,  made  by  the  rich,  and 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  369 

continued  at  their  expense ;  all  the  difference  of  price, 
between  our  own  and  foreign  commodities,  being  so 
much  given  by  our  rich  to  our  poor ;  who  would  indeed 
be  enabled  by  it  to  get  by  degrees  above  poverty,  if 
they  did  not,  as  too  generally  they  do,  consider  every 
increase  of  wages,  only  as  something  that  enables  them 
to  drink  more  and  work  less ;  so  that  their  distress  in 
sickness,  age,  or  times  of  scarcity,  continues  to  bo  the 
same  as  if  such  laws  had  never  been  made  in  their 
favor. 

Much  malignant  censure  have  some  writers  bestowed 
upon  the  rich  for  their  luxury  and  expensive  living,  while 
the  poor  are  starving,  &,c. ;  not  considering  that  what  the 
rich  expend,  the  laboring  poor  receive  in  payment  for 
their  labor.  It  may  seem  a  paradox  if  I  should  assert, 
that  our  laboring  poor  do  in  every  year  receive  the 
whole  revenue  of  tlie  nation;  I  mean  not  only  the 
public  revenue,  but  also  the  revenue  or  clear  income 
of  all  private  estates,  or  a  sum  equivalent  to  the  whole. 

In  support  of  this  position  I  reason  thus.  The  rich  do 
not  work  for  one  another.  Their  habitations,  furniture, 
clothing,  carriages,  food,  ornaments,  and  every  thing  in 
short,  that  they  or  their  families  use  and  consume,  is  the 
work  or  produce  of  the  laboring  poor,  who  are,  and 
must  be  continually,  paid  for  their  labor  in  producing  the 
same.  In  these  payments  the  revenues  of  private 
estates  are  expended,  for  most  people  live  up  to  their 
incomes.  In  clothing  or  provision  for  troops,  in  arms, 
ammunition,  ships,  tents,  carnages,  &c.  &,c.,  (every  par- 
ticular the  produce  of  labor,)  much  of  the  public  revenue 
is  expended.  The  pay  of  officers,  civil  and  military, 
and  of  the  private  soldiers  and  sailors,  requires  the  rest ; 
and  they  spend  that  also  in  paying  for  what  is  produced 
by  the  laboring  poor. 

I  allow  that  some  estates  may  increase  by  the  owners 

roL.  ii.  21 


370  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

spending  less  than  their  income ;  but  then  I  conceive 
that  other  estates  do  at  the  same  time  diminish  by  the 
owners  spending  more  than  their  income,  so  that 
when  the  enriched  want  to  buy  more  land,  they  easily 
find  lands  in  the  hands  of  the  impoverished,  whose 
necessities  oblige  them  to  sell ;  and  thus  this  difference 
is  equalled.  I  allow  also,  that  part  of  the  expense  of  the 
rich  is  in  foreign  produce  or  manufactures,  for  producing 
'which  the  laboring  poor  of  other  nations  must  be  paid; 
but  then  I  say,  we  must  first  pay  our  own  laboring  poor 
for  an  equal  quantity  of  our  manufactures  or  produce,  to 
exchange  for  those  foreign  productions,  or  we  must  pay 
for  them  in  money,  which  money,  not  being  the  natural 
produce  of  our  country,  must  first  be  purchased  from 
abroad,  by  sending  out  its  value  in  the  produce  or 
manufactures  of  this  country,  for  which  manufactures 
our  laboring  poor  are  to  be  paid.  And  indeed,  if  we 
did  not  export  more  than  we  import,  we  could  have  no 
money  at  all.  I  allow  farther,  that  there  are  middle 
men,  who  make  a  profit,  and  even  get  estates,  by  pur- 
chasing the  labor  of  the  poor,  and  selling  it  at  advanced 
prices  to  the  rich;  but  then  they  cannot  enjoy  thai 
profit,  or  the  incomes  of  estates,  but  by  spending  them 
in  employing  and  paying  our  laboring  poor,  in  some 
shape  or  other,  for  the  products  of  industry.  Even 
beggars,  pensioners,  hospitals,  and  all  that  are  supported 
by  charity,  spend  their  incomes  in  the  same  manner. 
So  that  finally,  as  I  said  at  first,  our  laboring  poor  re- 
ceive annually  the  whole  of  the  clear  revenues  of  the 
nation,  and  from  us  they  can  have  no  more. 

If  it  be  said  that  their  wages  are  too  low,  and  that 
they  ought  to  be  better  paid  for  their  labor,  I  heartily 
wish  that  any  means  could  be  fallen  upon  to  do  it,  con- 
sistent with  their  interest  and  happiness ;  but,  as  the 
cheapness  of  other  things  is  owing  to  the  plenty  of 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  371 

those  things,  so  the  cheapness  of  labor  is  in  most  cases 
owing  to  the  multitude  of  laborers,  and  to  their  under- 
working one  another  in  order  to  obtain  employment 
How  is  this  to  be  remedied  ?  A  law  might  be  made  to 
raise  their  wages  ;  but,  if  our  manufactures  are  too  dear, 
they  will  not  vend  abroad,  and  all  that  part  of  employ- 
ment will  fail,  unless  by  fighting  and  conquering  we 
compel  other  nations  to  buy  our  goods,  whether  they 
will  or  no,  which  some  have  been  mad  enough  at  times 
to  propose. 

Among  ourselves,  unless  we  give  our  working  people 
less  employment,  how  can  we,  for  what  they  do,  pay 
them  higher  than  we  do?  Out  of  what  fund  is  the 
additional  price  of  labor  to  be  paid,  when  all  our  present 
incomes  are,  as  it  were,  mortgaged  to  them?  Should 
they  get  higher  wages,  would  that  make  them  less  poor, 
if,  in  consequence,  they  worked  fewer  days  of  the  week 
proportionably  ?  I  have  said,  a  law  might  be  made  to 
raise  their  wages ;  but  I  doubt  much  whether  it  could 
be  executed  to  any  purpose,  unless  another  law,  now 
indeed  almost  obsolete,  could  at  the  same  time  be  re- 
vived and  enforced ;  a  law,  I  mean,  that  many  have  often 
heard  and  repeated,  but  few  have  ever  duly  considered. 
Six  days  shall  thou  labor.  This  is  as  positive  a  part  of 
the  commandment,  as  that  which  says,  The  SEVENTH 
day  thou  shall  rest.  But  we  remember  well  to  observe 
the  indulgent  part,  and  never  think  of  the  other.  Saint 
Monday  is  generally  as  duly  kept  by  our  working  peo- 
ple as  Sunday ;  the  only  difference  is,  that,  instead  of 
employing  their  time  cheaply  at  church,  they  are  wast- 
ing it  expensively  at  the  alehouse. 

I  am,  Sir,  yours,  &,c.  MEDIUS. 


372  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 


SOME  GOOD  WHIG  PRINCIPLES. 


A  printed  paper,  of  which  the  following  is  a  copy,  was  found 
among  Dr.  Franklin's  papers,  endorsed  by  him  as  above.  —  W  T.  F. 


DECLARATION  of  those  RIGHTS  of  the  Commonalty 
of  Great  Britain,  without  which  they  cannot  be  FREE. 

It  is  declared, 

First,  That  the  government  of  this  realm,  and  the 
making  of  laws  for  the  same,  ought  to  be  lodged  in  the 
hands  of  King,  Lords  of  Parliament,  and  Representatives 
of  the  whole  body  of  the  freemen  of  this  realm. 

Secondly,  That  every  man  of  the  commonalty  (ex- 
cepting infants,  insane  persons,  and  criminals)  is,  of 
common  right,  and  by  the  laws  of  God,  a  freeman,  and 
entitled  to  the  free  enjoyment  of  liberty. 

Thirdly,  That  liberty,  or  freedom,  consists  in  having 
an  actual  share  in  the  appointment  of  those  who  frame 
the  laws,  and  who  are  to  be  the  guardians  of  every 
man's  life,  property,  and  peace ;  for  the  all  of  one  man 
is  as  dear  to  him  as  the  all  of  another ;  and  the  poor 
man  has  an  equal  right,  but  more  need,  to  have  repre- 
sentatives in  the  legislature  than  the  rich  one. 

Fourthly,  That  they  who  have  no  voice  nor  vote  in 
the  electing  of  representatives,  do  not  enjoy  liberty ;  but 
are  absolutely  enslaved  to  those  who  have  votes,  and  to 
their  representatives  ;  for  to  be  enslaved  is  to  have 
governors  whom  other  men  have  set  over  us,  and  be 
subject  to  laws  made  by  the  representatives  of  others, 
without  having  had  representatives  of  our  own  to  give 
consent  in  our  behalf. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  373 

Fifthly,  That  a  very  great  majority  of  the  commonal- 
ty of  this  realm  are  denied  the  privilege  of  voting  for 
representatives  in  Parliament ;  and,  consequently,  they 
are  enslaved  to  a  small  number,  who  do  now  enjoy  the 
privilege  exclusively  to  themselves ;  but  who,  it  may  be 
presumed,  are  far  from  wishing  to  continue  in  the  ex- 
clusive possession  of  a  privilege,  by  which  their  fellow  - 
subjects  are  deprived  of  common  right,  of  justice,  of 
liberty;  and  which,  if  not  communicated  to  all,  must 
speedily  cause  the  certain  overthrow  of  our  happy  con- 
stitution, and  enslave  us  all. 

And,  sixthly  and  lastly,  We  also  say  and  do  assert, 
that  it  is  the  right  of  the  commonalty  of  this  realm  to 
elect  a  new  House  of  Commons  once  in  every  year, 
according  to  the  ancient  and  sacred  laws  of  the  land ; 
because,  whenever  a  Parliament  continues  in  being  for 
a  longer  term,  very  great  numbers  of  the  commonalty, 
who  have  arrived  at  years  of  manhood  since  the  last  elec- 
tion, and  therefore  have  a  right  to  be  actually  represented 
in  the  House  of  Commons,  are  then  unjustly  deprived 
of  that  right. 


POSITIONS 

TO  BE  EXAMINED,  CONCERNING  NATIONAL  WEALTH. 

DATED  APRIL    4,    1769. 

1.  ALL  food  or  subsistence  for  mankind  arises  from 
the  earth  or  waters. 

2.  Necessaries    of  life,  that   are   not   food,    and    all 
other  conveniences,  have  their  values  estimated  by  the 
proportion  of  food  consumed  while  we  are  employed  in 
procuring  them. 


374  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

3.  A  small  people,  with  a  large  territory,  may  sub- 
sist on  ;he  productions  of  nature,  with  no  other  labor 
than  that  of  gathering  the  vegetables  and  catching  the 
animals. 

4.  A  large  people,  with  a  small  territory,  finds  these 
insufficient,  and,  to   subsist,   must  labor  the    earth,  to 
make  it  produce  greater  quantities  of  vegetable  food, 
suitable  for  the  nourishment  of  men,  and  of  the  animals 
they  intend  to  eat. 

5.  From  this  labor  arises  a  great  increase  of  vegeta- 
ble and  animal  food,  and  of  materials  for  clothing,  as 
flax,  wool,  silk,  &,c.     The  superfluity  of  these  is  wealth. 
With  this   wealth  we  pay  for  the  labor  employed  in 
building   our  houses,  cities,   &c.,   which   are  therefore 
only  subsistence  thus  metamorphosed. 

6.  Manufactures   are  only  another  shape  into  which 
so  much  provisions  and  subsistence  are  turned,  as  were 
equal  in  value  to  the  manufactures  produced.     This  ap- 
pears from  hence,  that  the  manufacturer  does  not,  in  fact, 
obtain  from  the  employer,  for  his  labor,   more  than  a 
mere  subsistence,  including  raiment,  fuel,  and  shelter ; 
all  which  derive  their  value  from  the  provisions  con- 
sumed in  procuring  them. 

7.  The  produce  of  the  earth,   thus   converted  into 
manufactures,  may  be  more    easily  carried  to  distant 
markets  than  before  such  conversion. 

8.  Fair  commerce   is,    where  equal    values    are  ex- 
changed for  equal,  the  expense  of  transport  included. 
Thus,  if  it  costs  A   in   England    as    much    labor  and 
charge  to  raise  a  bushel  of  wheat,  as  it  costs  B  in 
France  to  produce  four  gallons  of  wine,  then  are  four 
gallons  of  wine  the  fair  exchange  for  a  bushel  of  wheat, 
A  and  B  meeting  at  half  distance  with  their  commodi- 
ties to  make  the  exchange.     The  advantage  of  this  fair 
commerce  is,  that  each  party  increases  the  number  of 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY  375 

his  enjoyments,  having,  instead  of  wheat  alone,  or  wine 
alone,  the  use  of  both  wheat  and  wine. 

9.  Where  the  labor  and  expense  of  producing  both 
commodities  are  known  to  both  parties,  bargains  will 
generally  be  fair  and  equal.     Where  they  are  known  to 
one  party  only,  bargains  will  often  be  unequal,  knowl- 
edge taking  its  advantage  of  ignorance. 

10.  Thus,  he  that  carries   one   thousand  bushels  of 
wheat  abroad  to  sell,  may  not  probably  obtain  so  great 
a  profit  thereon,  as  if  he  had  first  turned  the  wheat 
into  manufactures,  by  subsisting  therewith  the  workmen 
while  producing  those  manufactures ;  since    there    are 
many  expediting  and  facilitating  methods  of  working, 
not  generally  known ;  and  strangers  to  the  manufactures, 
though  they  know  pretty  well  the  expense  of  raising 
wheat,  are  unacquainted  with  those  short  methods  of 
working,  and,  thence  being  apt  to  suppose  more  labor 
employed  in  the  manufactures  than  there  really  is,  are 
more  easily  imposed  on  in  their  value,  and  induced  to 
allow  more  for  them  than  they  are  honestly  worth.* 

11.  Thus  the  advantage  of  having   manufactures   in 
a  country  does  not  consist,  as  is  commonly  supposed, 
in  their  highly  advancing  the  value  of  rough  materials, 

*  The  reasons  for  paying  a  price  are  not  founded  merely  upon  a  com- 
putation of  the  expense  of  production.  A  general  knowledge  of  the 
expense  of  producing  a  bushel  of  corn  does  not  prevent  the  producer  from 
demanding  and  the  consumer  from  paying  a  higher  price,  when  the  article 
is  scarce  ;  nor  the  consumer  from  offering  and  the  producer  from  accept- 
ing a  lower  price,  when  it  is  plenty.  A  proposition  bearing  a  near  affinity 
to  that  stated  in  the  text  seems  to  be  true,  namely,  that  those  things 
which  are  of  general  production  and  habitual  consumption,  like  the  com- 
mon agricultural  products,  are  more  likely  to  bear  a  market  price  near 
to  the  cost  of  production,  than  things  of  less  common  production  and  les* 
regular  use,  as  the  article  of  lace,  mentioned  in  the  next  section.  It  may 
also  be  generally  the  case,  that  the  greater  the  distance  of  the  place  of 
consumption  from  that  of  production,  the  longer  an  article  is  likely  to  be 
sold  at  a  great  profit,  since  the  operation  of  competition,  in  bringing  down 
the  price,  is  likely  to  b  •  slower.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 


376  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

of  which  they  are  formed;  since,  though  six  penny- 
worth of  flax  may  be  worth  twenty  shillings  when 
worked  into  lace,  yet  the  very  cause  of  its  being  worth 
twenty  shillings  is,  that,  besides  the  flax,  it  has  cost 
nineteen  shillings  and  sixpence  in  subsistence  to  the 
manufacturer.  But  the  advantage  of  manufactures  is, 
that  under  their  shape  provisions  may  be  more  easily 
carried  to  a  foreign  market ;  and,  by  their  means,  our 
traders  may  more  easily  cheat  strangers.*  Few,  where 
it  is  not  made,  are  judges  of  the  value  of  lace.  The 
importer  may  demand  forty,  and  perhaps  get  thirty, 
shillings  for  that  which  cost  him  but  twenty. 

12.  Finally,  there  seem  to  be  but  three  ways  for  a 
nation  to  acquire  wealth.  The  first  is  by  war,  as  the 
Romans  did,  in  plundering  their  conquered  neighbours. 
This  is  robbery.  The  second  by  commerce,  which  is 
generally  cheating.  The  third  by  agriculture,  the  only 
honest  way,  wherein  man  receives  a  real  increase  of 
the  seed  thrown  into  the  ground,  in  a  kind  of  contin- 
ual miracle,  wrought  by  the  hand  of  God  in  his  fa- 
vor, as  a  reward  for  his  innocent  life  and  his  virtuous 
industry. 

*  Franklin  does  not,  probably,  intend  to  be  literally  understood  as 
recommending  a  system  of  defrauding  foreigners  ;  the  benefit  he  proposes 
from  manufactures  does  not,  by  any  means,  amount  to  this.  Nobody  con- 
siders it  cheating  to  obtain  from  a  domestic  purchaser  more  for  a  thing 
than  it  costs  the  vender  to  make  it.  The  most  scrupulous  mercantile 
morality  does  not  proscribe  profits.  The  author  has  elsewhere  stated, 
that  gain  is  the  great  motive  of  commerce.  He  can  only  mean  what  he 
has  elsewhere  stated,  that  the  nation  exporting  manufactures  has  the 
means  of  carrying  on  a  more  profitable  foreign  trade,  which  it  may  do  as 
long  as  there  are  few  competitors  in  effecting  sales.  But  the  other 
reason  mentioned  immediately  before,  in  favor  of  exporting  manufactures, 
namely,  that  it  gives  an  opportunity  of  exporting  the  products  of  more 
labor,  is  of  much  greater  importance  than  the  chance  of  making  extraordi- 
nary profits ;  a  chance  which  has  been  very  much  diminished  by  the 
diffusion  of  the  manufacturing  arts,  since  this  article  was  written. — 
W.  PHILLIPS. 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  377 


PLAN 

FOR  BENEFITING  DISTANT  UNPROVIDED 
COUNTRIES. 

BY  DR.  FRANKLIN  AND  MR.  DALRYMPLE." 
AUGUST  29,  1771. 

THE  country,  called  in  the  maps  New  Zealand,  has 
been  discovered,  by  the  Endeavour,  to  be  two  islands,  to- 
gether as  large  as  Great  Britain ;  these  islands,  named 
Acpy-nomawee  and  Tovy-poennammoo,  are  inhabited 
by  a  brave  and  generous  race,  who  are  destitute  of  corn, 
fowls,  and  all  quadrupeds,  except  dogs. 

These  circumstances  being  mentioned  lately  in  a 
company  of  men  of  liberal  sentiments,  it  was  observed, 
that  it  seemed  incumbent  on  such  a  country  as  this,  to 
communicate  to  all  others  the  conveniences  of  life, 
which  we  enjoy. 

Dr.  Franklin,  whose  life  has  ever  been  directed  to 
promote  the  true  interest  of  society,  said,  "  he  would 
with  all  his  heart  subscribe  to  a  voyage  intended  to  com- 
municate in  general  those  benefits  which  we  enjoy,  to 
countries  destitute  of  them  in  the  remote  parts  of  the 
globe."  This  proposition  being  warmly  adopted  by  the 
rest  of  the  company,  Mr.  Dalrymple,  then  present,  was 
induced  to  offer  to  undertake  the  command  in  such  an 
expedition. 

On  mature  reflection,  this  scheme  appears  the  most 
honorable  to  the  national  character  of  any  which  can  be 
conceived,  as  it  is  grounded  on  the  noblest  principle  of 
benevolence.  Good  intentions  are  often  frustrated  by 

*  These  proposals  were  printed  upon  a  sheet  of  paper,  and  distributed. 
The  parts  written  by  Dr.  Franklin  and  Mr.  Dalrymple  are  easily  dis- 
tinguished. —  B.  V. 


378  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

letting  them  remain  undigested ;  on  this  consideration, 
Mr.  Dalrymple  was  induced  to  put  the  outlines  on  paper, 
which  are  now  published,  that,  by  an  early  communica- 
tion, there  may  be  a  better  opportunity  of  collecting  aii 
the  hints  which  can  conduce  to  execute  effectually  the 
benevolent  purpose  of  the  expedition,  in  case  it  should 
meet  with  general  approbation. 

On  this  scheme  being  shown  to  Dr.  Franklin,  he 
communicated  his  sentiments,  by  way  of  introduction,  to 
the  following  effect; 

"  Britain  is  said  to  have  produced  originally  nothing 
but  sloes.  What  vast  advantages  have  been  communi- 
cated to  her  by  the  fruits,  seeds,  roots,  herbage,  animals, 
and  arts  of  other  countries !  We  are,  by  their  means, 
become  a  wealthy  and  a  mighty  nation,  abounding  in  all 
good  things.  Does  not  some  duty  hence  arise  from  us 
towards  other  countries,  still  remaining  in  our  former 
state  ? 

"Britain  is  now  the  first  maritime  power  in  the 
world.  Her  ships  are  innumerable,  capable,  by  their 
form,  size,  and  strength,  of  sailing  on  all  seas.  Our  sea- 
men are  equally  bold,  skilful,  and  hardy ;  dexterous  in 
exploring  the  remotest  regions,  and  ready  to  engage  in 
voyages  to  unknown  countries,  though  attended  with 
the  greatest  dangers.  The  inhabitants  of  those  coun- 
tries, our  fellow  men,  have  canoes  only ;  not  knowing- 
iron,  they  cannot  build  ships ;  they  have  little  astronomy, 
and  no  knowledge  of  the  compass  to  guide  them ;  they 
cannot  therefore  come  to  us,  or  obtain  any  of  our  ad- 
vantages. From  these  circumstances,  does  not  some 
duty  seem  to  arise  from  us  to  them  ?  Does  not  Provi- 
dence, by  these  distinguishing  favors,  seem  to  call  on 
us,  to  d'  something  ourselves  for  the  common  interest 
of  humanity? 

"Those  who  think  it  their  duty   to  ask  bread  and 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  379 

other  blessings  daily  from  Heaven,  would  they  not  think 
it  equally  a  duty  to  communicate  of  those  blessings 
when  they  have  received  them,  and  show  their  grati- 
tude to  their  great  Benefactor  by  the  only  means 
in  their  power,  promoting  the  happiness  of  his  other 
children  ? 

"  Ceres  is  said  to  have  made  a  journey  through  many 
countries  to  teach  the  use  of  corn,  and  the  art  of  raising 
it.  For  this  single  benefit  the  grateful  nations  deified 
her.  How  much  more  may  Englishmen  deserve  such 
honor,  by  communicating  the  knowledge  and  use,  not 
of  corn  only,  but  of  all  the  other  enjoyments  the  earth 
can  produce,  and  which  they  are  now  in  possession  of. 
Communiter  bona  profundere,  Deum  est. 

"  Many  voyages  have  been  undertaken  with  views  of 
profit  or  of  plunder,  or  to  gratify  resentment ;  to  procure 
some  advantage  to  ourselves,  or  do  some  mischief  to 
others.  But  a  voyage  is  now  proposed,  to  visit  a  distant 
people  on  the  other  side  the  globe ;  not  to  cheat  them, 
not  to  rob  them,  not  to  seize  their  lands,  or  enslave 
their  persons ;  but  merely  to  do  them  good,  and  make 
them,  as  far  as  in  our  power  lies,  to  live  as  comfortably 
as  ourselves. 

"  It  seems  a  laudable  wish,  that  all  the  nations  of  the 
earth  were  connected  by  a  knowledge  of  each  other, 
and  a  mutual  exchange  of  benefits ;  but  a  commercial 
nation  particularly  should  wish  for  a  general  civilization 
of  mankind,  since  trade  is  always  carried  on  to  much 
greater  extent  with  people  who  have  the  arts  and  con- 
veniences of  life,  than  it  can  be  with  naked  savages. 
We  may  therefore  hope,  in  this  undertaking,  to  be  of 
some  service  to  our  country  as  well  as  to  those  pool 
people,  who,  however  distant  from  us,  are  in  truth  relat- 
ed to  us,  and  whose  interests  do,  in  some  degree,  con- 
( ern  every  one  who  can  say,  Homo  sum,  &,c." 


380  FRAJNKLIN'S     WRITINGS. 

Scheme  of  a  voyage  by  subscription,  to  convey  the 
conveniences  of  life,  as  fowls,  hogs,  goats,  cattle,  corn, 
iron,  &,c.,  to  those  remote  regions,  which  are  destitute 
of  them,  and  to  bring  from  thence  such  productions,  as 
can  be  cultivated  in  this  kingdom,  to  the  advantage  of 
society,  in  a  ship  under  the  command  of  Alexander 
Dalrymple. 

Catt  or  bark,  from  the  coal  trade,  of  350  tons, 

estimated  at  about  ....  £2,000 
Extra  expenses,  stores,  boats,  &,c.  .  .  3,000 

To  be  manned  with  sixty  men  at  £4  per  man 
per  month,       .          .     £240 
12 

£2,880  per  annum. 

3 
Wages  and  provisions      £8,640  for  three  years     8,640 

13,640 

Cargo  included,  supposed         .        .        .         £15,000 

The  expenses  of  this  expedition  are  calculated  for 
three  years;  but  the  greatest  part  of  the  amount  of 
wages  will  not  be  wanted  till  the  ship  returns,  and  a 
great  part  of  the  expense  of  provisions  will  be  saved  by 
what  is  obtained  in  the  course  of  the  voyage,  by  barter 
or  otherwise,  though  it  is  proper  to  make  provision  for 
contingencies. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  381 

CONCERNING 
THE  PROVISION  MADE  IN  CHINA  AGAINST  FAMINE.* 

I  HAVE  somewhere  read,  that,  in  China,  an  account  is 
yearly  taken  of  the  number  of  people,  and  the  quanti- 
ties of  provision  produced.  This  account  is  transmit- 
ted to  the  emperor,  whose  ministers  can  thence  foresee 
a  scarcity,  likely  to  happen  in  any  province,  and  from 
what  province  it  can  best  be  supplied  in  good  time. 
To  facilitate  the  collecting  of  this  account,  and  prevent 
the  necessity  of  entering  houses  and  spending  time  in 
asking  and  answering  questions,  each  house  is  furnished 
with  a  little  board,  to  be  hung  without  the  door  during 
a  certain  time  each  year ;  on  which  board  are  marked 
certain  words,  against  which  the  inhabitant  is  to  mark 
the  number  and  quantity,  somewhat  in  this  manner ; 


Men, 
Women, 
Children, 
Rice  or  Wheat, 
Flesh,  &c. 


All  under  sixteen  are  accounted  children,  and  all 
above  men  and  women.  Any  other  particulars,  which 
the  government  desires  information  of,  are  occasionally 
marked  on  the  same  boards.  Thus  the  officers,  ap- 
pointed to  collect  the  accounts  in  each  district,  have 
only  to  pass  before  the  doors,  and  enter  into  their  book 

*  Taken  from  Dr.  Percival's  Essays,  (Vol.  III.  p.  25,)  being  an  extract 
from  a  letter  written  to  him  by  Dr.  Franklin,  on  the  subject  of  his  Ob- 
servations on  the  state  of  population  in  Manchester  and  other  adjacent 
places.—  B.  V. 


382  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS 

what  they  find  marked  on  the  board,  without  giving  the 
least  trouble  to  the  family.  There  is  a  penalty  on 
marking  falsely ;  and,  as  neighbours  must  know  nearly 
the  truth  of  each  other's  account,  they  dare  not  expose 
themselves,  by  a  false  one,  to  each  other's  accusa- 
tion. Perhaps  such  a  regulation  is  scarcely  practicable 
with  us. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  3*3 


PRINCIPLES  OF  TRADE. 


Freedom  and  protection  are  its  best  support ;  industry  the  only  means  to  ren- 
der manufactures  cheap. 

Commerce  is  generally  understood  to  be  the  basis,  on  which  the  power  of  this 
country  hath  been  raised,  and  on  which  it  must  ever  stand. 

Tous  les  sujets  doivent  leurs  soins,  et  leure  lumieres.  a  1'etat. 


THE  account  given  of  this  tract  by  William  Temple  Franklin  is 
as  follows.  "  It  was  originally  published  in  1774,  and  is  the  joint 
work  of  George  Whatley  and  Dr.  Franklin.  The  original  work 
was  indeed  written  by  the  former,  and  communicated  to  the  latter. 
The  corrections  and  additions,  which  were  made  by  Dr.  Franklin, 
produced  an  amicable  controversy  between  them,  who  had  the  best 
claim  to  call  himself  the  author  of  it,  which  closed  by  a  determina- 
tion to  publish  it  without  any  name,  but  under  this  designation,  By 
a  Well-wisher  to  the  King  and  Country."  The  parts  contributed  by 
each  might  perhaps  be  separated  by  a  careful  inspection,  but  the 
whole  tract  is  too  valuable  to  be  marred  by  such  an  attempt  ;  ami 
moreover  it  may  be  presumed,  from  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
that  all  the  principles  contained  in  it  were  approved  by  Dr.  Frank- 
lin. In  a  letter  ten  years  afterwards  to  Mr.  Whatley,  written  at 
Passy,  he  requests  of  him  a  copy  of  his  "  excellent  little  work,  The 
Principle*  of  Trade"  and  adds ;  "  If  your  bookseller  has  an} 
quantity  of  them  left,  I  should  be  glad  he  would  send  them  to 
America.  The  ideas  of  our  people  there,  though  rather  better  than 
those  that  prevail  in  Europe,  are  not  so  good  as  they  should  be,  and 
that  piece  might  be  of  service  to  them."  Mr.  Vaughan  has  brought 
together  detached  parts  of  this  paper  under  the  title  of  POLITICAL 


384  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

FRAGMENTS,    and   it  is  probable  that  the  passages  selected  by  him 
are  those,  which  were  written  by  Franklin. 

This  essay  abounds  in  sound  doctrines  of  political  economy,  and 
is  characterized  throughout  by  originality,  comprehensiveness,  and 
justness  of  thinking.  —  EDITOR. 


DEDICATION. 

To  all  those,  who  have  the  welfare  and  prosperity  of 
these  kingdoms  at  heart,  the  following  essay,  contain- 
ing, we  hope,  useful  and  incontrovertible  principles  on 
the  subjects  treated  of,  is  very  heartily  and  affectionate- 
ly inscribed. 

March,  1774. 

PREFACE. 

IT  is  a  vain  imagination  that  we  exist  only  for  our- 
selves, or  our  particular  country.  The  all-wise  Creator 
has  ordered  that  a  mutual  dependence  shall  run  through 
all  his  works ;  and  though  our  limited  capacities  will  not 
admit  us  fully  to  comprehend  the  nature  and  end  of  this 
connected  chain  of  things,  yet  we  may,  and  indeed 
ought,  to  inquire  into  and  consider  every  thing,  which 
relates  to  our  mutual  dependence  upon  one  another, 
and  the  springs  and  principles  of  our  actions. 

By  this  investigation  we  shall  find,  that  our  wants, 
whether  real  or  ideal,  our  passions,  and  our  habits,  are 
the  springs  of  all  our  actions,  and  indeed  the  movers 
of  the  general  intercourse  and  commerce  between  one 
man  and  another,  one  country  and  another. 

Most  writers  upon  trade  have  made  it  their  business 
to  support  and  explain  some  particular  branches  of  traf- 
fic, or  some  favorite  hypothesis.  We  shall,  in  the  en- 
suing essay,  use  our  best  endeavours  to  remove  from  the 
friends  of  trade,  and  mankind  in  general,  some  prevail- 
ing prejudices ;  and  to  treat,  in  a  concise  manner,  upon 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  385 

a  few  self-evident  principles  and  general  maxims ;  un- 
der a  persuasion,  that,  if  such  maxims  and  principles  are 
just,  all  deductions  and  discussions  whatever  may  be 
tried  by  their  standard. 

Some  very  respectable  friends  have  indulged  us  with 
their  ideas  and  opinions.  It  is  with  the  greatest  pleasure 
we,  in  this  second  edition,  most  gratefully  acknowl- 
edge the  favor ;  and  must  add,  that,  should  the  public 
hold  this  performance  in  any  estimation,  no  small  share 
belongs  to  those  friends. 

Definition  of  Trade. 

1.  Trade,  or  commerce,  is  the  intercourse,  as  well 
between  nation  and   nation,   as   between   one  man  and 
another;  by    which    we    acquire    whatsoever    may  be 
thought,  or  understood  to  be,  of  use  or  delight,  whether 
real  or  ideal. 

Gain  the  End  of  Trade. 

2.  The  spring  or  movement  of  such  intercourse  is, 
and  ever  must  be,  gain,  or  the  hopes  of  gain ;  as  neither 
the  public,  nor  the  individual,  would  intentionally  pursue 
any  unprofitable  intercourse  or  commerce. 

3.  Gain  being  the  principle  of  trade,  the  whole  mys- 
tery  of  trade   must   therefore    consist    in    prosecuting 
methods,  whereby  gain  or  advantage  may  be  obtained. 

In  transactions  of  trade,  it  is  not  to  be  supposed,  that, 
like  gaming,  what  one  party  gains  the  other  must  lose. 
The  gain  to  each  may  be  equal.  If  A  has  more  corn 
than  he  can  consume,  but  wants  cattle,  and  B  has 
more  cattle,  but  wants  corn,  an  exchange  is  gain  to 
each ;  hereby  the  common  stock  of  comforts  in  life  is 
increased. 

Freedom  and  Protection  the  best  Support  of  Trade. 

4.  Freedom    and    protection   are    most    indisputable 

VOL.  II.  25 


FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

principles  whereon  the  success  of  trade  must  depend, 
as  clearly  as  an  open,  good  road  tends  towards  a  safe 
and  speedy  intercourse ;  nor  is  there  a  greater  enemy 
to  trade  than  constraint.* 

5.  Governments,    which   have   adopted  those  plain, 
simple  principles,  have  been  greatly  benefited. 

6.  Were  princes,  in  general,   to  abolish  all  sorts   of 
prohibitory  laws,  trade  in  general  would  flourish  most 
in  those  countries,  where  the  happy  situation,  the  mild- 
ness of  the  climate,  the   activity  and  industry  of  the 
inhabitants,  would   furnish  means  for  a  speedy  and  use- 
ful intercourse,  reciprocally  to  supply  any  real  or  ideal 
want. 

When  princes  make  war  by  prohibiting  commerce, 
each  may  hurt  himself  as  much  as  his  enemy.  Tra- 
ders, who  by  their  business  are  promoting  the  common 
good  of  mankind,  as  well  as  farmers  and  fishermen, 
who  labor  for  the  subsistence  of  all,  should  never  be 
interrupted  or  molested  in  their  business ;  but  enjoy  the 
protection  of  all  in  the  time  of  war,  as  well  as  in  the 
time  of  peace. 

This  policy  those  we  are  pleased  to  call  barbarians 
have,  in  a  great  measure,  adopted ;  for  the  trading  sub- 
jects of  any  power,  with  whom  the  Emperor  of  Morocco 
may  be  at  war,  are  not  liable  to  capture,  when  within 
sight  of  his  land,  going  or  coming,  and  have  otherwise 
free  liberty  to  trade  and  reside  in  his  dominions. 

As  a  maritime  power,  we  presume  it  is  not  thought 

*This  maxim  and  the  following  to  the  tenth  section  coincide  with  the 
doctrines  of  Adam  Smith,  promulgated  the  year  following  in  the  "  Wealth 
of  Nations."  They  are  now  universally  received  as  general  doctrines  of 
political  economy.  It  is  universally  admittad,  at  the  same  time,  that  they 
are  subject  to  exceptions.  The  great  difficulty  is  to  determine  on  the  prin- 
ciples and  grounds,  on  which  exceptions  are  to  be  made  ;  and  also  to  d<>- 
termme  on  what  principles,  in  what  manner,  and  to  what  extent,  protection 
is  to  be  extended  to  trade.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  387 

right,  that  Great  Britain  should  grant  such  freedom,  ex- 
cept partially  ;  as  in  the  case  of  war  with  France,  when 
tobacco  is  allowed  to  be  sent  thither  under  the  sanction 
of  passports. 

7.  We   are   no   more  to  expect  this,  than  that  the 
whole  world  should  be  governed  by  the  same  laws.     In 
our  opinion,  however,  no  laws,  which  the  art  of  man  can 
devise,  will  or  can  hinder,  or  entirely  stop  the  current 
of,  a  profitable  trade ;  any  more  than  the  severest  laws 
could  prevent  the  satisfying  of  hunger,  when  any  chance 
or  opportunity  offered  to  gratify  it. 

8.  Nevertheless,  so  far  as  it  is  possible,  according  to 
the  different  modes   and    constitutions  of  each  state, 
freedom  and  protection  should  be  ever  had  in  view  by 
its  respective  government. 

9.  For  whatever  law  is    enacted,  abridging  a  free- 
dom or  liberty,  which  the  true  interest  of  the  state  de- 
mands, or  which  does  not  grant    protection   where  it 
may  be  wanted,  must  clearly  be  detrimental. 

1 0.  We  are  well  aware,  that  in  many  cases  individuals 
may  endeavour  at  an  intercourse  or  trade,  whereby  the 
public,  in  one  particular  point,  may  seem  injured ;  and 
yet  it  may  be  out  of  the  power  of  the  state  to  hinder  it, 
without  breaking  in  upon  the  freedom  of  trade  ;  so  that 
the  Dutchman,  who,  when  Antwerp  was  besieged,  fur- 
nished arms,  ammunition,  and  provisions  to  the  Spaniards, 
and  gloried  in  it,  though  a  chief  magistrate  of  Amster- 
dam, was  not  so  very  wrong  in  his  principles  in  general, 
as  at  first  sight  might  appear.     For  this  Dutchman  ran 
the  risk  of  losing  his  ammunition,  &c.,  which,  if  taken, 
would  have  been  indeed  his  loss,  but  a  gain  to  the  cap- 
tors, his  countrymen ;  and,  if  sold   and  delivered  to  the 
enemy,  brought  profit  to  him,   and  in   consequence  to 
the  state  of  which  he  was  a  member.     This  man,  to 
evince   how  much   he    held  freedom    in    trade    to   be 


388  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

essential,  used  a  very  strong  figure,  when,  owning  his 
having  furnished  the  enemy  of  the  state  with  ammuni- 
tion, &-c.,  he  added,  that  he  would,  to  prosecute  his 
trade,  sail  through  hell,  at  the  risk  of  singeing  his  sails. 
It  is  generally  a  vain  imagination,  that  if  we  do  not 
furnish  an  enemy  with  what  he  wants,  he  cannot  be 
supplied  elsewhere.  Since  we  are  to  suffer  the  mis- 
chief he  may  do  with  it,  why  should  we  not  receive  the 
profit  that  arises  on  supplying  it  ?  Thus  might  the 
Dutchman  have  reasoned  when  he  supplied  the  enemy 
with  ammunition,  &,c. 

11.  We  have,  as  a  first  principle,  laid  down  what  we 
apprehend    every    one   must    allow,    that   gain,    or  the 
hope    of  gain,  is   the   mover  of  all  intercourse  or  trade. 
Herein,  as  above  hinted,   must  be   comprehended   all 
matters  of  use,  in  the  first  instance ;  and  then,  matters 
of  ambition,  delight,  opinion ;  in  one  word,  luxury. 

12.  Now  things  of  real  use  can  only  be  meat,  drink, 
clothing,    fuel,  and    habitation.      The    several  particu- 
lars relative  to  these  every  one's  mind  can  suggest ;  to 
enumerate  would  almost  be  endless. 

13.  As  to  meat,  in  a  country  where  corn,  fruits,  and 
cattle  can  be  raised  and  bred,  the  inhabitants  must  be 
wanting  in  industry  to  cultivate  the  lands,  or  they  can- 
not, in   the  common  course  of  things,   want  help  from 
their  neighbours  for  sustenance. 

The  same  as  to  drink ;  if  for  it  they  will  content 
themselves  with  the  beverage  made  of  their  own  corn 
and  fruits. 

And  so  of  clothing ;  if  they  can  be  satisfied  to  be 
clad  with  the  manufactures  made  from  the  produce  of 
their  own  country. 

As  to  fuel  and  habitation,  there  are  very  few  countries 
which  do  not  afford  these  articles. 

14.  The  real  want  of  all  or  any  of  these  necessaries 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  389 

must  and  ever  will  be  an  incentive  to  labor ;  either  b  v 
every  individual  himself  in  the  community,  or  by  those, 
to  whom  an  equivalent  is  given  for  their  labor. 

15.  When  ambition,  delight,  opinion,  otherwise  luxu- 
ry, come  to  be  considered,  the  field  is  extremely  en- 
larged :  and  it  will  require  a  copious  deliberation   and 
ascertainment. 

16.  For  luxury  may  be  carried  to  such  a  height,  as 
to  be  thought  by  some  to  be  prejudicial  to  the  state ; 
though  we,  in  a  general  sense,  cannot  well  apprehend  it 
can ;  inasmuch   as  what  we  call  riches    must  be   the 
cause  of  luxury,  taken  in  all  its  branches. 

17.  Now   riches,    as    we   conceive  them,  consist  in 
whatever  either  a  state    or  an   individual  have,   more 
than  is  necessary  to  procure  the  above  essentials,  which 
are  only  of  real  use,  viz.  meat  and  drink,  and  clothes, 
fire  and  shelter. 

This  more  or  abundance,  from  whatsoever  cause  it 
may  proceed,  after  the  bartering  for  and  procuring 
those  essentials,  would  absolutely,  and  to  all  intents,  be 
useless  and  of  no  manner  of  avail,  were  it  not  that  de- 
light and  opinion  came  in  aid,  to  cause  what  we  will 
call  ideal  wants ;  which  wants  our  passions,  put  into  our 
make  by  the  almighty  hand  that  formed  us,  cause  us  to 
be  almost  as  solicitous  to  provide  for  and  to  supply,  as 
if  such  wants  were  real. 

18.  We  therefore  must  repeat,   that  from  motives  to 
acquire   what  may   be   thought   of  real  or   ideal  use, 
spring  the  intercourse  or  trade  between  nations,  as  well 
as  between  individuals ;  and  it  seems  to  be  self-evident 
that  the  produce  of  the  land,  and  of  industry  in  general, 
must  supply  all  our  wants,  and  consequently  our  trade. 

19.  Now,  though  it  is  hardly   to   be   expected,   as 
above  hinted,  that  princes  should  allow  of  a  general  free 
trade  or  intercourse,  because  they  seldom  know  their 


390  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

own  true  interest  ;  yet  it  does  not  follow  that  funda- 
mental maxims  should  not  be  attended  to  in  governing 
an  industrious  people.  Some  of  these  principles  we 
beg  leave  to  expatiate  on. 

Fundamental  Maxims  for  an  indushious  People. 

20.  Land,  to  bring  forth  its  increase,  must  be  cultivated 
by  man   and   beast.     It   is  therefore  the  duty  and  in- 
terest of  the  state  to  rear  both  man  and  beast,  and  in 
their  respective  classes  to  nourish  and  cherish  them. 

21.  Industry  in  all  shapes,  in  all  instances,  and  by  all 
means,  should  be  encouraged  and  protected  ;  indolence, 
by  every  possible  method  rooted  out. 

All  that  live  must  be  subsisted.  Subsistence  costs 
something.  He  that  is  industrious  produces  by  his  in- 
dustry something  that  is  an  equivalent,  and  pays  for  his 
subsistence.  He  is  therefore  no  charge  or  burden  to 
society.  The  indolent  are  an  expense,  uncompen sated. 

There  can  be  no  doubt  but  all  kinds  of  employment 
that  can  be  followed  without  prejudice  from  interrup- 
tions ;  work  that  can  be  taken  up  and  laid  down  often 
.n  a  day,  without  damage,  such  as  spinning,  knitting, 
weaving,  &LC.,  are  highly  advantageous  to  a  country ; 
because  in  them  may  be  collected  all  the  produce  of 
those  fragments  of  time  that  occur  in  family  business, 
between  the  constant  and  necessary  parts  of  it,  that 
usually  occupy  females ;  as  the  time  between  rising  and 
preparing  breakfast,  between  breakfast  and  preparing 
for  dinner,  &,c.  The  amount  of  all  these  fragments  is,  in 
the  course  of  a  year,  very  considerable  to  a  single 
family;  to  a  state  proportionably.  Highly  profitable 
therefore  it  is,  in  this  case  also,  to  follow  the  divine  di- 
rection, "  Gather  up  the  fragments  that  nothing  be  lost."  * 

*  Adam  Smith's  views  of  the  importance  of  household  manufactures 
coincide  with  those  expressed  in  this  section.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  391 

Lost  time  is  lost  subsistence ;  it  is  therefore  lost  treasure. 
Hereby,  in  several  families,  many  yards  of  linen  have 
been  produced  from  the  employment  of  these  fragments 
only,  in  one  year,  though  such  families  were  just  the 
same  in  number  as  when  not  so  employed. 

It  was  an  excellent  saying  of  a  certain  Chinese 
emperor,  "  I  will,  if  possible,  have  no  idleness  in  my  do- 
minions ;  for,  if  there  be  one  man  idle,  some  other  man 
must  suffer  cold  and  hunger."  We  take  this  emperor's 
meaning  to  be,  that  the  labor  due  to  the  public  by  each 
individual,  not  being  performed  by  the  indolent,  must 
naturally  fall  to  the  share  of  others,  who  must  thereby 
suffer. 

22.  Whatever  can  contribute  towards  procuring  from 
the  land,  and  by   industry,   a  produce  wherewith  other 
nations  may  be  supplied,  ought  highly  to  be  encouraged. 

23.  Materials  wanting  in  a  country  to  employ  its  in- 
habitants, ought  by  all  means  to  be   procured.     Gold 
and  silver,  those  tokens  of  riches,  used  as  such,  and 
otherwise  of  little  use,  are  not  near  so  estimable.     The 
bartering  of  them  for  such  materials  is  manifestly  ad- 
vantageous.* 

24.  These,   as   we   apprehend,    are   incontrovertible 
principles,  on   which  a  wise  government  will  found  its 
resolutions. 

25.  That  the  use  of  the  produce  of  other  countries 
for  ideal  wants  ought  to  be  discouraged,    particularly 
when  the  produce  of  the  land,  or  of  industry,  are  not 
given  in  exchange  for  them,  has  been  strongly  urged  by 
many.     On  the  grand  principle  of  freedom  in  trade,  we 
cannot  well  admit  it ;  for   it  is  plain  the  luxurious  will 

*This  section,  and  those  that  follow,  particularly  the  twenty-ninth, 
nhow,  that  the  authors  of  this  essay  had,  before  the  publication  of  the 
"  Wealth  of  Nations,"  seen  the  fallacy  of  the  former  prejudices  that  had 
utjtm  in  vogue,  respecting  the  expediency  of  forcing  a  favorable  bilance 
of  trade  by  prohibiting  the  exportation  of  specie.  — W.  PHILLIPS. 


392  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

use,  and  the  trader,  to  prosecute  his  gain,  will  procure, 
such  foreign  produce  ;  nor  do  prohibitory  laws  or  heavy 
duties  hinder.  Nevertheless,  to  allow  for  a  moment  the 
doctrine,  we  will  remark,  that  only  the  establishing  it  as  a 
mode  or  fashion  amongst  the  opulent  and  great  can 
possibly  effectuate  a  disuse  or  discouragement. 

In  fact,  the  produce  of  other  countries  can  hardly  be 
obtained,  unless  by  fraud  or  rapine,  without  giving 
the  produce  of  our  land  or  our  industry  in  exchange 
for  them.  If  we  have  mines  of  gold  and  silver,  gold 
and  silver  may  then  be  called  the  produce  of  our 
land.  If  we  have  not,  we  can  only  fairly  obtain  those 
metals  by  giving  for  them  the  produce  of  our  land  or 
industry.  When  we  have  them,  they  are  then  only  that 
produce  or  industry  in  another  shape ;  which  we  may 
give,  if  the  trade  requires  it,  and  our  other  produce  will 
not  suit,  in  exchange  for  the  produce  of  some  other 
country,  that  furnishes  what  we  have  more  occasion  for, 
or  more  desire.  When  we  have,  to  an  inconvenient  de- 
gree, parted  with  our  gold  and  silver,  our  industry  is 
stimulated  afresh  to  procure  more,  that  by  its  means 
we  may  contrive  to  procure  the  same  advantage. 

In  this  place  it  will  be  proper  to  observe  upon  an 
erroneous  doctrine,  which  has  been  often  strenuously 
insisted  on,  that  the  cheapness  of  provisions  must  render 
manufactures  cheap ;  and  that  plenty  of  money  con- 
duces to  the  benefit  of  trade.  We  shall  endeavour  to 
prove  that  industry  alone  does  both. 

Trade  benefited  by  Industry  more  than  Money. 

26.  Providence  has  wisely  ordained,  that  there  should 
be  different  occupations  and  pursuits  amongst  men,  and 
that  the  rich  and  poor  should  be  actuated  by  different 
wants,  whether  real  or  ideal.  It  is  next  to  impossible 
that  the  rich  should  be  without  desires,  or  wishes  for 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  393 

greater  acquisitions ;  or  the  poor  without  being  necessi- 
tated to  acquire  what  must  supply  their  real  wants.  If 
the  rich  curtail  their  desires,  or  wishes,  their  riches 
serve,  in  proportion  to  their  not  using  them,  no  more  than 
ore  in  an  unworked  mine.  If  the  poor  man,  by  one  day's 
labor  can  supply  his  real  wants  for  two  days,  and  sits 
idle  the  half  of  his  time,  he  may  be  considered  in  such 
an  idle  time,  as  a  monk  or  a  cripple  with  regard  to  the 
community.  If  a  thirst  for  acquisition  move  the  rich 
man,  he  industriously  employs  all  his  riches.  If  the 
scarcity  of  provisions  compel  the  poor  man  to  work  his 
whole  time,  he  assuredly,  by  his  industry,  must  make 
more  manufactures  than  only  working  half  of  it.  Hence 
we  conclude,  that  gain  is  the  first  mover,  and  industry, 
and  the  desire  of  supplying  our  wants,  the  intermediate 
movers,  of  all  intercourse  or  trade.  We  however  must 
observe,  that  a  government  truly  wise  should  always,  as 
far  as  the  general  good  allows,  be  as  solicitous  to  pro- 
cure plenty  of  provisions,  whereby  both  man  and  beast 
may  be  kept  in  good  health  and  strength,  as  to  encour- 
age industry.  For  industry  cannot  be  sufficiently  sus- 
tained without  the  strength  arising  from  plenty  of  pro- 
visions. 

The  common  people  do  not  work  for  pleasure  gener- 
ally, but  from  necessity.*  Cheapness  of  provisions 
makes  them  more  idle ;  less  work  is  then  done ;  it  is 
then  more  in  demand  proportionally  ;  and  of  course 
the  price  rises.  Dearness  of  provisions  obliges  the 

*  These  maxims,  and  many  others  in  this  tract,  are  to  be  considered  as 
applicable  to  European  society,  particularly  to  England,  where  industry  is 
not  applied  to  the  profit  of  the  individual  who  labors  ;  but  where  one  or  a 
few  individuals,  with  large  capitals,  make  a  monopoly  of  the  industry  of 
thousands.  These  thousands,  barely  subsisted  by  labor,  and,  from  the 
scantiness  of  their  reward  or  wages,  never  able  to  reserve  a  surplus  to  ac- 
cumulate for  their  children  or  for  old  age,  are  ever  dependent  on  their 
employers  ;  and  where  labor  is  the  only  occupation,  and  bare  existence 
the  only  hope,  there  idleness  is  an  enjoyment  —  W.  T.  F. 


394  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

manufacturer  to  work  more  days  and  more  hours  ;  thus 
more  work  is  done  than  equals  the  usual  demand ;  of 
course  it  becomes  cheaper,  and  the  manufactures  in 
consequence. 

27.  As  to  plenty  of  money  being  a  benefit  to   trade 
and  manufactures,  we  apprehend  every  one  conversant 
therein  must  know  that  the  coin,  by  which  we  generally 
understand  money,  of  every  respective   state,   is  by  no 
means  the  mover  of  the  intercourse  or  tradings  of  the 
world  in  general.     Gold  and  silver  in  bullion,  or  in  an 
uncoined  mass,  are  rather  more  so  ;  being,  in  point  of 
value,  a  merchandise  less  liable  to  variation  than  any 
other.     It  is  true  that  coin  may  be  liable,  in  the  fluctua- 
tion of  trade,  to  be  made  a  merchandise  of ;  but  as,  by 
constant  use,   the  pieces  of  coin  become   lighter  than 
their  original  weight,  they  thereby  are  less  fit  for  mer- 
chandise.    We  therefore  may  say,  that  coins,  in  gener- 
al, can  no  otherwise    be    useful,    than    as   the  common 
measure  between  man  and  man,  as  serving  to  barter 
against,    or    exchange   for,    all   kinds  of   commodities. 
Certain  it  is,  that  coins  cannot  be  ranked  amongst  those 
things  which  are  only  of  real  use.    Let  us  therefore  sup- 
pose pieces  of  coin  to  be  counters,  and,  to  simplify  the 
matter  still  more,  suppose  every  manufacturer  to  have 
of  these  counters  any  sum  whatever ;  will  it  follow,  that 
any  sort  of  manufacture  shall  be  industriously  attended 
to,  or  more  work   done  than   when   no  more  counters 
than  just  enough  to  barter  for  the  real  wants  of  meat, 
drink,   and   clothes,    &,c.,  can   be  procured  by  labor  ? 
Surely  no.     It  must   be   the    desire  of  supplying   our 
wants,  which  excites  industry   as    above   hinted ;   that 
alone  sets  that  trade  going,  and  only  can  procure  plenty 
of  manufactures. 

28.  It  is,  nevertheless,  the  duty  of  government    to 
stamp  coins  or  counters  of  different  sorts  and  denomin- 
ations, so  that  time,  of  all  things  the  most  precious,  be  not 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  395 

wasted  in  settling  the  respective  exchangings  amongst 
mankind.  Nevertheless  the  plenty  or  scarcity  of  those 
coins  cannot  entirely  depend  on  any  government,  but 
on  the  general  circulation  and  fluctuation  of  trade, 
which  may  make  them  a  merchandise  without  the  least 
detriment;  as  it  must  be  allowed,  that  the  precious 
metals  gold  and  silver,  of  which  such  coins  are  princi- 
pally composed,  are  no  other  than  merchandise  acquired 
from  countries  where  there  are  mines,  by  those  coun- 
tries which  have  none,  in  exchange  for  the  produce  of 
their  land  or  of  their  manufactures. 

Silver  Coin  and  its  Scarcity. 

29.  That  the  welfare  of  any  state  depends  on  its 
keeping  all  its  gold  and  silver,  either  in  bullion  or  in 
coin,  must  be  founded  on  a  very  narrow  principle  in- 
deed. All  republics  we  know  of,  wisely  think  other- 
wise. Spain,  the  grand  source  of  silver,  has  of  late 
years,  very  justly,  allowed  the  free  exportation  of  it, 
paying  a  duty,  as  in  Great  Britain  lead  and  tin  do ;  nor, 
prior  to  this  permission,  could  their  penal  laws  in  Spain 
hinder  its  being  exported ;  for  it  was  a  commodity, 
which  that  kingdom  was  under  a  necessity  of  giving  as 
an  equivalent,  for  what  was  furnished  to  them  by  other 
countries. 

Could  Spain  and  Portugal  have  succeeded  in  ex- 
ecuting their  foolish  laws  of  "hedging  in  the  cuckoo" 
as  Locke  calls  it,  and  have  kept  at  home  all  their 
gold  and  silver,  those  metals  would,  by  this  time, 
have  been  of  little  more  value  than  so  much  lead  or 
iron.  Their  plenty  would  have  lessened  their  value. 
We  see  the  folly  of  these  edicts ;  but  are  not  our  own 
prohibitory  and  restrictive  laws,  that  are  professedly 
made  with  intention  to  bring  a  balance  in  our  favor  from 
our  trade  with  foreign  nations  to  be  paid  in  money, 


396  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

and  laws  to  prevent  the  necessity  of  exporting  thai 
money,  which,  if  they  could  be  thoroughly  executed, 
would  make  money  as  plenty  and  of  as  little  value ;  I 
say,  are  not  such  laws  akin  to  those  Spanish  edicts, 
follies  of  the  same  family  ? 

30.  In  Great  Britain,  the  silver  coin  bearing  a  dispro- 
portion to  gold  more  than  in  neighbouring  states,  of  about 
five  in  the  hundred,  must,  by  that  disproportion,  become 
merchandise,  as  well  for  exportation,  as  for  the  manufac- 
tures at  home  in  which  silver  is  employed,  more  than  if 
it   remained   in   the   mass   uncoined.      This  might   be 
remedied  without  injuring  the  public,  or  touching  the 
present  standard,  which  never  should  be  done,  only  by 
enacting  that  sixty-five  shillings  should  be  cut  out  of  one 
pound  weight  of  standard  silver,  instead  of  sixty-two, 
which  are  the  number  now  ordained  by  law.     We  must 
however  remark,   that  whenever,  by  any  extraordinary 
demand  for  silver,  a  pound  weight,  bought  even  for  six- 
ty-five shillings,  can  be  sent  abroad  to  advantage,  or 
melted  down  for  manufactures,  no  prohibitory  laws  will 
hinder   its  exportation  or  melting,  and  still  becoming  a 
merchandise. 

Other  Coins  and  Paper  Money. 

31.  Coiners  have  pointed  out,  though  at  the  risk  of  the 
gallows,  a  measure  which  we  think  would  be  advisable 
in  some  degree  for  government  to  adopt.     They  coin 
and  circulate  shillings  of  such  weight  as  to  gain  ten  to 
fourteen   in   the   hundred,  and  upwards;  as  out  of  a 
pound  of  standard  silver  they  cut  sixty-eight  or  seventy- 
one  shillings.     That  these  light  shillings  or  counters  are 
useful,  though  the  public  be  so  greatly   imposed  on,  is 
evident.     It  must  be  presumed,  that  every  thing  is  put 
in   practice   by   government    to   detect    and    stop   this 
manifest   roguery.     If  so,  can  it  on  the  one  hand  be 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  397 

supposed  the  public  purse  should  bear  the  burden  of  this 
fraud?  Yet,  on  the  other  hand,  having  no  supply 
of  legal  shillings  or  counters,  the  utility  of  the  illegal 
ones  forces  them,  as  it  were,  on  the  public.  The 
power  of  the  legislature  to  correct  the  erroneous  pro- 
portion of  five  in  the  hundred,  as  above  mentioned,  is 
indubitable ;  but  whether  every  private  person  pos- 
sessed of  these  counters,  or  the  public  purse,  should 
be  obliged  to  bear  the  loss  on  a  re-coinage,  seems  a 
difficult  point  to  determine ;  as  it  may  be  alleged,  that 
every  private  person  has  it  in  his  power  to  accept  or 
refuse  any  coin  under  the  weight,  as  by  law  enacted, 
for  each  denomination.  If  the  former,  he  does  it  to 
his  own  wrong,  and  must  take  the  consequences. 
The  individual,  on  the  other  hand,  has  to  allege  the 
almost  total  want  of  lawful  counters ;  together  with 
the  impossibility  or  neglect  of  hindering  those  of  an 
inferior  weight  from  being  suffered  to  be  current.  It 
may  be  submitted,  that,  as  the  use  of  coin  is  for  public 
utility,  any  loss  which  .  rises  in  the  coin  either  by  wear- 
ing, or  even  by  filing  and  sweating,  ought  to  be  made 
good  by  calling  in  the  coin  after  a  certain  number  of 
years  from  the  time  of  coinage,  and  receiving  the  money 
called  in  at  the  charge  of  the  public.  We  are  well 
aware  what  latitude  such  a  resolution  might  give  to 
the  coiners  of  shillings,  the  filers,  and  the  sweaters  of 
gold  ;  but,  taking  proper  measures  beforehand,  this 
evil  might,  we  think,  in  a  great  degree  be  prevented. 

32.  In  the  beginning  of  his  present  Majesty's  reign, 
quarter-guineas  were  wisely  ordered  to  be  coined ; 
whereby  the  want  of  silver  coin  was  in  some  degree 
supplied,  which  would  still  be  more  so,  were  thirds 
and  two-thirds  of  guineas  to  be  coined.  We  cannot 
conceive  why  this  is  not  done,  except  that  these  de- 
nominations are  not  specified  in  his  Majesty's  indenture 


398  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

with    the  master  of  the    mint ;  which   in   our  humble 
opinion  ought  to  be  rectified. 

33.  We  think  it  not  improper  here  to  observe,  that 
it   matters   not  whether  silver   or  gold   be   called  the 
standard  money ;   but  it  seems  most  rational  that  the 
most  scarce  and  precious  metal  should  be  the  unit  or 
standard. 

That,  as  to  copper,  it  is  as  fit  for  money  or  a  counter, 
as  gold  or  silver,  provided  it  be  coined  of  a  proper 
weight  and  fineness ;  and  just  so  much  will  be  useful 
as  will  serve  to  make  up  small  parts  in  exchange  be- 
tween man  and  man,  and  no  more  ought  to  be  coined. 

As  to  paper  circulating  as  money,  it  is  highly  profit- 
able, as  its  quick  passing  from  one  to  another  is  a 
gain  of  time,  and  thereby  may  be  understood  to  add 
hands  to  the  community ;  inasmuch  as  those,  who  would 
be  employed  in  telling  and  weighing,  will  follow  other 
business.  The  issuers  or  coiners  of  paper  are  un- 
derstood to  have  an  equivalent  to  answer  what  it  is 
issued  for  or  valued  at ;  nor  can  any  metal  or  coin  do 
more  than  find  its  value. 

It  is  impossible  for  government  to  circumscribe  or 
fix  the  extent  of  paper  credit,  which  must,  of  course, 
fluctuate.  Government  may  as  well  pretend  to  lay 
down  rules  for  the  operations  or  the  confidence  of  every 
individual  in  the  course  of  his  trade.  Any  seeming 
temporary  evil  arising  must  naturally  work  its  own 
cure. 

Exchanges. 

34.  As  some  principles   relative  to  exchange  have, 
in    our  opinion,    been    treated    of  in    a   very    confused 
manner,  and   some  maxims  have  been  held  out  upon 
that  subject,    which    tend   only  to   mislead,    we    shall 
here  briefly  lay  down  what,  according  to  our  opinion, 
are  self-evident  principles. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  399 

35.  Exchange,  by  bills,  between  one  country  or  city 
and   another,  we   conceive    to   be   this.      One   person 
wants  to  get  a  sum  from  any  country  or  city ;  conse- 
quently has  his  bill  or  draft  to  sell ;  another  wants  to 
send  a  sum  thither,  and  therefore  agrees  to  buy  such 
bill  or  draft.     He  has  it  at  an  agreed-for  price,  which 
is  the  course  of  the  exchange.      It  is  with  this  price 
for  bills,  as  with  merchandise ;  when  there  is  a  scar- 
city of  bills  in  the  market,  they  are  dear;   when  plenty, 
they  are  cheap. 

36.  We  judge  it  needless  to  enter  into  the  several 
courses  and    denominations  of  exchanges,  which   cus- 
tom hath  established ;  they  are  taught  at  school.     But 
we  think  we  must  offer  a  few  words   to  destroy   an 
erroneous  principle,  that  has  misled  some  and  confused 
others ;    which   is,  that  by  authority   a  certain  par  or 
fixed  price    of   exchange   should   be    settled    between 
each  respective  country ;    thereby  rendering   the  cur- 
rency of  exchange  as  fixed  as  the  standard  of  coin. 

37.  We  have  above  hinted,  that  plenty  and  scarcity 
must  govern   the  course  of  exchange.     Which  princi- 
ple, duly  considered,  would  suffice  on  the  subject ;  but 
we  will  add,    that  no  human  foresight  can  absolutely 
judge  of  the  almost  numberless  fluctuations  in  trade, 
which  vary,    sometimes  directly,   sometimes  indirectly, 
between  countries ;  consequently  no  state  or  potentate 
can  by  authority -any  more  pretend  to  settle  the  cur- 
rency of  the  prices  of  the  several  sorts  of  merchandise 
sent  to  and  from  their  respective  dominions,  than  they 
can  a  par  of  exchange.     In  point  of  merchandise,  in- 
deed,   where  there  is  a  monopoly   of  particular  com- 
modities,   an    exception   must   be   allowed    as  to  such 
articles :    but  this   is   not  at  all  applicable  to  trade  in 
general,    for   the  encouragement  of  which    we  cannot 
too   often  repeat,   that  freedom  and  security  are  most 
essentially  necessai-y. 


400  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

Par  of  Exchange. 

38.  Another   specious   doctrine,    much   labored   by 
theorists,  in    consequence   of  that  relating  to  the   par, 
is,  that   the  exchange  between  any  particular  country 
being   above    or   below    par,    always    shows    whether 
their  reciprocal   trade  be  advantageous   or  disadvanta- 
geous.     It   is,    and  must  be   allowed,   that   in    trade 
nothing  is  given  without  adequate  returns  or  compen- 
sations ;   but  these  are  so  various  and  fluctuating  be- 
tween   countries,    as   often   indirectly   as  directly,  that 
there  is  no  possibility   of  fixing  a  point  from  whence 
to  argue ;  so  that,  should  there  happen  a   greater   va- 
riation than  of  two  or  three  or  more  in  the  hundred, 
at  any  certain  period  in   the  exchange,  above  or  below 
what  is  called  the  par  or  equality  of  the  money  of  one 
country  to  that  of  another,  influenced  by  the  fluctua- 
tions   and    circulations    in    trade,    it    does    not    follow, 
that  a  trade  is    advantageous  or   disadvantageous,    ex- 
cepting momentarily,  if   one  may  so  say ;    which  can 
be  of  no  consequence  to  the  public  in  general,  as  the 
trade  from  advantageous  may  become  disadvantageous, 
and  vice  versa;    and,   consequently,  the   deducing  of 
reasons  from   what   in  its  nature   must  be  fluctuating, 
can  only  help  to  embarrass,  if  not  mislead. 

39.  To  return  to  trade  in  general.     Our  principles, 
we  apprehend,  may  hold  good  for  all  nations,  and  ought 
to  be  attended  to   by  the   legislative  power   of  every 
nation.      We   will  not   discuss  every   particular  point; 
nor  is   it   to   our  purpose   to   examine   the   pretended 
principles  or  utility,  whereon  monopolies  are  generally 
established.     That  the  wisdom  of  government   should 
weigh  and .  nicely  consider  any  proposed  regulation  on 
those  principles,  we  humbly  judge  to  be  self-evident; 
whereby  may  be  seen    whether  it  coincides  with  the 
general  good.     Solomon  adviseth  "  not  to  counsel  with 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  401 

a  merchant  for  gain."  This,  we  presume,  relates  to 
the  merchant's  own  particular  profit,  which,  we  repeat, 
must  ever  be  the  spring  of  his  actions.  Government 
ought,  notwithstanding,  to  endeavour  to  procure  par- 
ticular informations  from  every  one ;  not  only  from 
those  actually  employed,  or  those  who  have  been  con- 
cerned, in  particular  branches  of  trade,  but  even  from 
persons  who  may  have  considered  of  it  theoretically 
and  speculatively. 

Perhaps,  in  general,  it  would  be  better  if  government 
meddled  no  farther  with  trade,  than  to  protect  it,  and 
let  it  take  its  course.  Most  of  the  statutes,  or  acts, 
edicts,  ar~ets,  and  placarts  of  parliaments,  princes,  and 
states,  for  regulating,  directing,  or  restraining  of  trade, 
have,  we  think,  been  either  political  blunders,  or  jobs 
obtained  by  artful  men  for  private  advantage,  under 
pretence  oi  public  good.  When  Colbert  assembled 
some  wise  old  merchants  of  France,  and  desired  their 
advice  and  opinion,  how  he  could  best  serve  and  pro- 
mote commerce,  their  answer,  after  consultation,  was,  in 
three  words  only,  Laissez-nous  faire  ;  "  Let  us  alone." 
It  is  said  by  a  very  solid  writer  of  the  same  nation, 
that  he  is  well  advanced  in  the  science  of  politics,  who 
knows  the  full  force  of  that  maxim,  Pas  trop  gou- 
verner  ;  "  Not  to  govern  too  much."  Which,  perhaps, 
would  be  of  more  use  when  applied  to  trade,  than  in 
any  other  public  concern.  It  were  therefore  to  be  wish- 
ed, that  commerce  was  as  free  between  all  the  nations 
of  the  world,  as  it  is  between  the  several  counties  of 
England ;  so  would  all,  by  mutual  communication,  ob- 
tain more  enjoyments.  Those  counties  do  not  ruin 
one  another  by  trade ;  neither  would  the  nations.  No 
nation  was  ever  ruined  by  trade,  even  seemingly  the 
most  disadvantageous.* 

*  The    doctrine    of  this    section    is  that,    which    is   now    universally 
VOL.  ii.  26 


402  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

Wherever  desirable  superfluities  are  imported,  indus- 
try is  excited,  and  therefore  plenty  is  produced.  Were 
only  necessaries  permitted  to  be  purchased,  men  would 
work  no  more  than  was  necessary  for  that  purpose. 

Bounties. 

40.  Though   we    wave    a   discussion  on    particular 
branches  of  trade,  as  the  field  is  too  large  for  our  pres- 
ent purpose  ;    and  that  particular  laws  and  regulations 
may  require  variation,  as  the  different  intercourses  and 
even  interests  of  states,  by  different  fluctuations,  may 
alter;   yet,  as  what   relates  to  bounties   or  premiums, 
which  the  legislature  of  Great  Britain  has  thought  fit 
to  grant,  hath  been  by  some  deemed,  if  not  ill-judged, 
unnecessary,  we  hope  our  time  not  ill-bestowed  to  con- 
sider of  the  fitness  and  rectitude  of  the  principle,  on 
which  we  apprehend  these  bounties  or  premiums  have 
been  granted. 

41.  It  must,  we  think,  on  all  hands  be  allowed,  that 
the   principle  whereon   they  are  founded  must  be  an 
encouragement   tending   to   a   general    benefit,  though 
granted  on  commodities,  manufactures,  or  fisheries,  car- 
ried on  in  particular   places   and  countries,  which   are 
presumed  or  found  to  require  aid  from  the  public  purse 
for  farther  improvement. 

Of  the  bounties,  some  having  had  the  proposed 
effect  are  discontinued ;  others  are  continued  for  the 
very  reason  they  were  first  given. 

In  our  opinion,  no  doubt  can  arise  as  to  the  utility 
of  these  grants  from  the  public  purse  to  individuals. 
The  grand  principle  of  trade,  which  is  gain,  is  the 
foundation  of  bounties ;  for,  as  every  individual  makes 

received  by  political  economists  and  legislators,  subject  of  course  to  modi- 
fivatons  and  exceptions  in  peculiar  circumstances;  and  it  occupies  a 
Conspicuous  place  in  the  "Wealth  of  Nations." — W.  PHILLIPS. 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  403 

a  part  of  the  whole  public,  consequently  whatever  ben- 
efits the  individual  must  benefit  the  public.  Hereby 
the  wisdom  of  the  legislature  is  most  evident;  nor 
should  it  in  any  wise  be  arraigned,  though  ill  success 
attended  any  particular  commodity,  manufacture,  or 
fishery,  for  the  encouragement  of  which  bounties  have 
been  established. 

We  are  well  aware,  that  it  is  not  impossible  the  pur- 
pose of  bounty  may  have  been  perverted  with  a  view 
to  improper  gain  ;  but  it  is  the  duty  of  the  legislature 
to  use  the  proper  measures  for  preventing  such  iniquity. 
This  abuse,  however,  cannot  be  adduced  as  an  argu- 
ment against  the  benefit  arising  from  allowing  bounties. 

Bounty  on  Wheat. 

42.  These  principles  in  regard  to  bounties  or  pre- 
miums are  applicable  to  most  articles  of  commerce, 
except  wheat,  and  other  grain,  which  we  shall  consider 
and  enlarge  on,  as  being  of  a  complicated  nature,  and 
concerning  which  mankind  have  at  particular  times  been 
divided  in  opinion. 

4S  It  seems  to  us,  that  this  bounty  on  grain  was 
intended,  not  only  to  encourage  the  cultivating  of  land 
for  the  raising  of  it  in  abundance  in  this  kingdom,  for 
the  use  of  its  inhabitants,  but  also  to  furnish  our  neigh- 
bours, whenever  the  kind  hand  of  Providence  should 
be  pleased  to  grant  a  superfluity. 

44.  It  never  can  be  presumed,  that  the  encourage- 
ment by  the  bounty  insures  to  the  community  an  unin- 
terrupted, constant  plenty ;  yet,  when  the  grower  of 
grain  knows  he  may  by  such  bounty  have  a  chance 
of  a  foreign  market  for  any  excess  he  may  have,  more 
than  the  usual  home  consumption,  he  the  more  wil- 
lingly labors  and  improves  his  land  upon  the  presump- 
tion of  having  a  vent  for  his  superfluity,  by  a  demand 


404  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

in  foreign  countries ;  so  that  he  will  not  probably  be 
distressed  by  abundance,  which,  strange  as  it  may 
seem  to  some,  might  be  the  case  by  his  want  of  sale, 
and  his  great  charges  of  gathering  in  his  crop. 

45.  As  there  are  no  public  granaries  in  this  king- 
dom, the  legislature  could  devise  no  better  means  than 
to  fix  stated  prices  under  which  the  bounty  or  encour- 
agement  from   the   public   purse    should   be    allowed. 
Whenever   the   current  prices   exceeded    those    stipu- 
lated, then  such  bounty  should  cease. 

46.  Few  consider  or  are  affected  but  by  what  is 
present.     They  see  grain,  by  reason  of  scanty  crops, 
dear ;  therefore  all  the  doors  for  grain,  to  the  cultiva- 
tors of  it,  must   always  be  kept   shut.     The  common 
outcry  is,  that  the  exporting  our  wheat  furnishes  bread 
to  our  neighbours  cheaper  than  it  can  be  afforded  to 
our  poor  at  home,  which  affects  our  manufacturers,  as 
they  can  thereby  work  cheaper.     To  this  last  allega- 
tion we  must  refer  to  what  we  have  said,  section  26  ; 
though  the  former,  that  wheat  is  by  the  bounty  afford- 
ed to  our  neighbours  cheaper  than  to  us  at  home  must, 
in  general,  be  without  foundation,  from  the  several  items 
of  charge  attending  the  exportation  of  grain,  such  as 
carriage,   factorage,  commission,   porterage,    &c.     The 
freight  paid  to  our  own  shipping,  to  which  alone  the 
bounty   is    restrained,    must,    when    duly  considered, 
very  sufficiently    counterbalance    the  bounty ;    so  that 
more  than  what  is  given  out  of  the  public  purse  is  put 
into  the  pockets  of  individuals,  for  the  carriage,  &,c. 
Therefore,  we   think,  we   may  well  presume,  that  in 
general,  grain  exported  comes  dearer  to  the  foreigner, 
than  to  the  consumer  in  Great  Britain. 

47.  Nothing  can  be  more  evident,   we  apprehend, 
than  that  the  superfluity  of  our  grain  being  exported, 
is  a  clear  profit    to   the  kingdom  ;    as   much   as   any 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  405 

other  produce   of    our   labor  in   manufactures,   in    tin, 
or  any  commodities  whatsoever. 

48.  It   behoves   us,  however,   indubitably,    to  have 
an  eye  towards  having  a  sufficiency  of  grain  for  food 
in  this  country,  as  we  have  laid  down,  section  26 ;   and, 
were  the  legislature  to  enact,  that  the  justices  of  the 
peace,   at    the   Christmas   quarter-session,  should  have 
power  to  summon  all  growers  of  grain  or  dealers  there- 
in, and  upon  oath  to  examine  them  as  to  the  quantity 
then  remaining,  returns  of  which   quantities  should  be 
made  to  the  lords  of  the   treasury,  to  be  laid   before 
Parliament ;  the  legislature  would,    upon  such  returns, 
be  able  to  judge,  whether   it  would  be  necessary    to 
enable  his  Majesty,  with  the  advice  of  his  council,  to 
put  a  stop  to  any  farther  exportation  at  such  times  as 
might  be  thought  proper. 

49.  Or  it  is  submitted,  whether  the  legislature  would 
not  act  more  consistent  with  the  principle  of  granting 
bounties,   by   repealing   the   act   allowing   the   present 
bounty  on  the  several  sorts  of  grain  at  the  now  fixed 
prices,  and  reduce  these  prices  as  follow ; 

On  wheat,  from  forty-eight  to  thirty-six  or  thirty-two 
shillings. 

On  barley,  from  twenty-four  to  eighteen  or  sixteen 
a  quarter ;  and  so  in  proportion  for  any  other  grain.  In 
short,  diminish  the  present  standard  prices,  under  which 
the  bounty  is  granted,  one  quarter  or  one  third. 

50.  In  our  humble  opinion,  this  last  method  would 
be  by  much  the  most  simple  and  eligible,  as  consistent 
with   our  grand   principle    of  freedom    in  trade,  which 
would  be  cramped,    if  dependent   annually    on  parlia- 
mentary deliberation. 

51.  The  advocates  for  not  lowering  the  present  stipu- 
lated prices,  that  command  the  bounties  from  the  public 
purse,  may   allege,   that   our   ancestors   deemed    them 


406  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

necessary,  on  the  principle  of  granting  any  bounty  at 
all,  which  we  have  above  hinted,  section  43.  We  do 
not  controvert  the  wisdom  of  the  principle  for  granting  a 
bounty ;  for  it  must  have  been,  and  ever  will  be,  an  en- 
couragement to  cultivation  ;  and  consequently  it  would 
be  highly  improper  wholly  to  discontinue  it.  Never- 
theless, if  it  has  answered  one  great  end  proposed, 
which  was  cultivation  and  improvement,  and  that  it 
is  incontrovertible  the  cultivator  has,  by  the  improve- 
ments made  by  the  encouragement  of  the  bounty,  a 
living  profit  at  the  reduced  prices  of  thirty-two  or 
thirty-six  shillings,  sixteen  or  eighteen,  &c.,  as  above, 
which  probably,  when  our  ancestors  enacted  the  law 
for  granting  the  bounty,  they  understood  the  cultivators 
could  not  have ;  it  seems  clear,  that  there  .  ought  to 
be  the  proposed  change  and  reduction  of  the  bounty 
prices,  as  above  mentioned.* 

52.  The  French,  intent  on  trade,  have  a  few  years 
since  rectified  a  very  gross  mistake  they  labored  under 
in  regard  to  their  commerce  in  grain.  One  county  or 
province  in  France  should  abound,  and  the  neighbour- 
ing one,  though  almost  starving,  should  not  be  per- 
mitted to  get  grain  from  the  plentiful  province,  without 
particular  license  from  court,  which  cost  no  small  trou- 
ble and  expense.  In  sea-port  towns,  wheat  should  be 
imported ;  and  soon  after,  without  leave  of  the  magis- 
trates, the  owner  should  only  have  liberty  to  export 
one  quarter  or  one  third  of  it.  They  are  now  wiser ; 
and  through  all  the  kingdom  the  corn  trade  is  quite 

*  Our  authors  were  much  more  favorably  inclined  to  bounties  than 
Adam  Smith,  and  disagreed  with  him  on  the  subject  of  the  bounty  on 
the  exportation  of  corn,  though  they  were  still  in  favor  of  restricting  it 
within  narrower  limits  by  reducing  the  rate  of  the  market  price  at  which 
it  might  be  demanded.  The  reasoning,  however,  in  the  subsequent  sec- 
tion is  wholly  in  favor  of  Adam  Smith's  doctrine,  that  this  bounty  is 
inexpedient.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  407 

free ;  and  what  is  more,  all  sorts  of  grain  may  be  ex- 
ported upon  French  bottoms  only,  for  their  encourage- 
ment, copying,  we  presume,  our  law,  whenever  the 
market  prices  for  three  following  days  shall  not  exceed 
about  forty-five  shillings  sterling  a  quarter  for  wheat. 
Our  reason  for  mentioning  this  is  only  to  show,  that 
other  nations  are  changing  their  destructive  measures, 
and  that  it  behoves  us  to  be  careful  that  we  pay  the 
greatest  attention  to  our  essential  interests. 

In  inland  high  countries,  remote  from  the  sea,  and 
whose  rivers  are  small,  running  from  the  country,  not 
to  it,  as  is  the  case  of  Switzerland,  great  distress  may 
arise  from  a  course  of  bad  harvests,  if  public  granaries 
are  not  provided  and  kept  well  stored.  Anciently,  too, 
before  navigation  was  so  general,  ships  so  plenty,  and 
commercial  connexions  so  well  established,  even  mari- 
time countries  might  be  occasionally  distressed  by  bad 
crops.  But  such  is  now  the  facility  of  communication 
between  those  countries,  that  an  unrestrained  com- 
merce can  scarce  ever  fail  of  procuring  a  sufficiency 
for  any  of  them.  If,  indeed,  any  government  is  so 
imprudent,  as  to  lay  its  hands  on  imported  corn,  forbid 
its  exportation,  or  compel  its  sale  at  limited  prices, 
there  the  people  may  suffer  some  famine  from  mer- 
chants avoiding  their  ports.  But  wherever  commerce 
is  known  to  be  always  free,  and  the  merchant  abso- 
lute master  of  his  commodity,  as  in  Holland,  there  will 
always  be  a  reasonable  supply. 

When  an  exportation  of  corn  takes  place,  occasioned 
by  a  higher  price  in  some  foreign  country,  it  is  com- 
mon to  raise  a  clamor,  on  the  supposition  that  we  shall 
thereby  produce  a  domestic  famine.  Then  follows  a 
prohibition,  founded  on  the  imaginary  distress  of  the 
poor.  The  poor,  to  be  sure,  if  in  distress,  should  be 
relieved  ;  but  if  the  farmer  could  have  a  high  price  for 


108  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

his  corn  from  the  foreign  demand,  must  he,  by  a  pro- 
hibition of  exportation,  be  compelled  to  take  a  low  price, 
not  of  the  poor  only,  but  of  every  one  that  eats  bread, 
even  the  richest?  The  duty  of  relieving  Ihe  poor  is 
incumbent  on  the  rich  ;  but,  by  this  operation,  the  whole 
burden  of  it  is  laid  on  the  farmer,  who  is  to  relieve  the 
rich  at  the  same  time.  Of  the  poor,  too,  those  who 
are  maintained  by  the  parishes  have  no  right  .to  claim 
this  sacrifice  of  the  farmer ;  as,  while  they  have  their 
allowance,  it  makes  no  difference  to  them  whether 
bread  be  cheap  or  dear.  Those  working  poor,  who 
now  mind  business  five  or  four  days  in  the  week,  if 
bread  should  be  so  dear  as  to  oblige  them  to  work 
the  whole  six,  required  by  the  commandment,  do  not 
seem  to  be  aggrieved  so  as  to  have  a  right  to  public 
redress.  There  will  then  remain  comparatively  only 
a  few  families  in  every  district,  who  from  sickness  or 
a  great  number  of  children,  will  be  so  distressed  by  a 
high  price  of  corn  as  to  need  relief;  and  these  should 
be  taken  care  of,  by  particular  benefactions,  without 
restraining  the  farmer's  profit. 

Those  who  fear,  that  exportation  may  so  far  drain 
the  country  of  corn  as  to  starve  ourselves,  fear  what 
never  did,  nor  ever  can  happen.  They  may  as  well, 
when  they  view  the  tide  ebbing  towards  the  sea,  fear 
that  all  the  water  will  leave  the  river.  The  price  of 
corn,  like  water,  will  find  its  own  level.  The  more 
we  export,  the  dearer  it  becomes  at  home.  The  more 
is  received  abroad,  the  cheaper  it  becomes  there  ; 
and  as  soon  as  these  prices  are  equal,  the  exportation 
stops  of  course.  As  the  seasons  vary  in  different  coun- 
tries, the  calamity  of  a  bad  harvest  is  never  universal. 
If,  then,  all  ports  were  always  open,  and  all  commerce 
free,  every  maritime  country  would  generally  eat  bread 
at  the  medium  price,  or  average  of  all  the  different 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  409 

harvests,  which  would  probably  be  more  equal  than 
we  can  make  it  by  our  artificial  regulations,  and 
therefore  a  more  steady  encouragement  to  agriculture. 
The  nations  would  all  have  bread  at  this  middle  price; 
and  that  nation,  which  at  any  time  inhumanly  refuses 
to  relieve  the  distresses  of  another  nation,  deserves  no 
compassion  when  in  distress  itself. 

We  shall  here  end  these  reflections,  with  our  most 
ardent  wishes  for  the  prosperity  of  our  country ;  and 
our  hopes,  that  the  doctrine  we  have  endeavoured  to 
inculcate,  as  to  the  necessity  of  protection  and  free- 
dom, in  order  to  insure  success  in  trade,  will  be  ever 
attended  to  by  the  legislature  in  forming  their  resolu- 
tions relating  to  the  commerce  of  these  kingdoms. 


REFLECTIONS  ON  COIN    IN   GENERAL,   BEING    AN 
APPENDIX  TO  THE  ABOVE  ESSAY. 


"  THE  clamor  made  of  the  great  inconveniences,  suf- 
fered by  the  community  in  regard  to  the  coin  of  this 
kingdom,  prompted  me  in  the  beginning  of  his  Majes- 
ty's reign  to  give  the  public  some  reflections  on  coin 
in  general,  on  gold  and  silver  as  merchandise,  and  1 
added  my  thoughts  on  paper  passing  as  money. 

"As  I  trust  the  principles  then  laid  down  are  founded 
in  truth,  and  will  serve  now  as  well  as  then,  though 
made  fourteen  years  ago,  to  change  any  calculation 
would  be  of  little  use. 

"Some  sections  in  the  foregoing  essay  of  Principles 

*  This  Preface  was  written  entirely  by  Mr.  Whatley.  —  W.  T.  F. 


410  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

of  Trade,  which  might  in  this  Appendix  appear  like  a 
repetition,  have  been  omitted. 

"  I  always  resolved  not  to  enter  into  any  particular 
deduction  from  laws  relating  to  coin,  or  into  any  minu- 
tiae as  to  accurate  nicety  in  weights.  My  intention 
was,  and  still  is,  no  more  than  to  endeavour  to  show, 
as  briefly  as  possible,  that  what  relates  to  coin  is  not 
of  such  a  complex,  abstruse  nature  as  it  is  generally 
made,  and  that  no  more  than  common  justice  with 
common  sense  is  required  in  all  regulations  concern- 
Jig  it. 

"  Perhaps  more  weighty  concerns  may  have  prevent- 
ed government  doing  more  in  regard  to  coin,  than 
ordering  quarter-guineas  to  be  made,  which  till  this 
reign  had  not  been  done. 

"  But,  as  I  now  judge  by  the  late  act  relating  to  gold 
coin,  that  the  legislature  is  roused,  possibly  they  may 
consider  still  more  of  that,  as  well  as  of  silver  coin. 

"  Should  these  reflections  prove  of  any  public  utility, 
my  end  will  be  answered." 

REFLECTIONS. 

1.  Coins  are  pieces  of  metal  on  which  an  impression 
is  struck,  which  impression  is  understood  by  the  legis- 
lature  to  ascertain    the  weight  and   intrinsic  value,  or 
worth,  of  each  piece. 

2.  The  real  value  of  coins  depends  not  on  a  piece 
being  called  a  guinea,  a  crown,  or  a  shilling ;  but  the 
true  worth  of  any  particular  piece  of  gold  or  silver  is 
what  such  piece  contains  of  fine  or  pure  gold  or  silver. 

3.  Silver   and  copper  being   mixed  with   gold,  and 
copper  with  silver,  are  generally  understood  to  render 
those  metals  more   durable  when  circulating  in  coins; 
yet  air  and  moisture  evidently  affect  copper,  whether  by 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  411 

itself  or   mixed  with  other  metal;    whereas  pure  gold 
and  silver  are  much  less  affected  or  corroded  thereby. 

4.  The  quantity  of  silver  and  copper  so  mixed  by 
way  of  alloy  is  fixed  by  the  legislature.     When  melted 
with  pure  metal,  or  added  or  extracted  to  make  a  law- 
ful proportion,   both   gold   and   silver   are   brought    to 
what  is  called  standard.     This  alloy  of  silver  and  cop- 
per is   never  reckoned   of  any   value.     The   standard, 
once  fixed,  should  ever  be  invariable ;  since  any  altera- 
tion would  be  followed  by  great  confusion  and  detri- 
ment to  the  state. 

5.  It   is   for  public  convenience   and   for  facilitating 
the   bartering   between    mankind    for   their    respective 
wants,  that  coins  were  invented  and  made ;  for,  were 
there  no  coins,  gold  and  silver  might  be  made  or  left 
pure ;  and  what  we  now  call  a  guinea's  worth  of  any 
thing  might  be  cut  off  from  gold,  and  a  crown's  worth 
from    silver,  and  might  serve,   though   not  so  commo- 
diously  as  coin. 

6.  Hence  it  is  evident,  that,  in  whatever  shape,  form, 
or  quality  these  metals  are,  they  are  brought  to  be  the 
most  common  measure  between  man  and  man,  serving 
to  barter  against  or  exchange  for  all  kinds  of  commodi- 
ties ;  and  consequently  are  no  more  than  an  universal 
accepted  merchandise ;   for  gold  and  silver  in  bullion, 
that  is  to  say,  in  an  uncoined  mass,  and  gold  or  silver 
in  coin,  being   of  equal  weight,  purity,  and  fineness, 
must  be  of  equal  value  the  one  to  the  other ;  for  the 
stamp  on  either  of  these  metals,  duly  proportioned,  nei- 
ther adds  to  nor  takes  from  their  intrinsic  value.* 

7.  The  prices   of  gold   and    silver,  as   merchandise, 

*  There  is  an  incidental  value,  which  arises  from  the  authority  of  the 
sta'.e,  which  is  in  the  nature  of  a  credit  or  assurance  of  value  given  by 

the    s*Ate,   that   either    issues   or   authorizes   the   issue   of  the  coin. 

W.  T.  F. 


412  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

must  in  all  countries,  like  other  commodities,  fluctuate; 
and  vary  according  to  the  demand,  and  no  detriment 
can  arise  therefrom  more  than  from  the  rise  and  fall  ol 
any  other  merchandise.  But  if,  when  coined,  a  due 
proportion  of  these  metals,  the  one  to  the  other,  be  not 
established,  the  disproportion  will  be  felt  and  proved; 
and  that  metal  wherein  the  excess  in  the  proportion 
is  allowed,  will  preferably  be  made  use  of,  either  in 
exportation  or  in  manufacture,  as  is  the  case  now  in 
this  kingdom  in  regard  to  silver  coin,  and  which  in 
some  measure  is  the  occasion  of  its  scarcity. 

For  so  long  as  15  ounces  and  about  one  fifth  of 
pure  silver  in  Great  Britain  are  ordained  and  deemed 
to  be  equal  to  one  ounce  of  pure  gold,  whilst  in  neigh- 
bouring states,  as  France  and  Holland,  the  propor- 
tion is  fixed  only  1 4i  ounces  of  pure  silver  to  one 
ounce  of  pure  gold,  it  is  very  evident,  that  our  silver 
when  coined  will  always  be  the  most  acceptable  mer- 
chandise by  near  five  in  the  hundred,  and  consequent- 
ly more  liable  to  be  taken  away  or  melted  down,  than 
before  it  received  the  impression  at  the  mint. 

8.  Sixty-two  shillings  only  are  ordained  by  law  to 
be  coined  from  12  ounces  of  standard  silver.     Now,  fol- 
lowing the  proportion  above  mentioned  of  151  to  14  2, 
no   regard   being   necessary    as    to   alloy,   65    shillings 
should  be  the  quantity  cut  out  of  those   12  ounces. 

9.  No  everlasting,  invariable  fixation  for  coining  can 
be  made  from  a  medium  of  the  market  price  of  gold 
and  silver,    though  that  medium  might  with   ease    be 
ascertained,  so  as  to  hinder  either  coined  gold  or  silver 
from  becoming  a  merchandise ;  for,  whenever  the  price 
shall  rise  above  that  medium,   so  as  to  give  a  profit, 
whatever  is  coined  will  be  made  a  merchandise.     This 
in  the  nature   of  things   must   come  from  the  general 
exchanging,   circulation,    and  fluctuation    in  trade,  and 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  413 

cannot  be  hindered ;  but  assuredly  the  false  proportions 
may  be  amended  by  the  legislature,  and  settled  as  the 
proportion  between  gold  and  silver  is  in  other  nations ; 
so  as  not  to  make,  as  now  is  the  case,  our  coined  silver 
a  merchandise,  so  much  to  be  preferred  to  the  same 
silver  uncoined. 

10.  What  has  been  said  seems  to  be  self-evident; 
but  the  following  calculations  made  on  the  present  cur- 
rent price  of  silver  and  gold  may  serve  to  prove  beyond 
all  doubt,  that  the  proportion  now  fixed  between  gold 
and  silver  should  be  altered  and  fixed  as  in  other 
countries. 

By  law,  62  shillings  are  to  be  coined  out  of  one 
pound  or  12  ounces  of  standard  silver.  This  is  62  pence 
an  ounce.  Melt  these  62  shillings,  and  in  a  bar  this 
pound  weight  at  market  will  fetch  68  pence  an  ounce, 
or  68  shillings  the  pound.  The  difference,  therefore, 
between  coined  and  uncoined  silver  in  Great  Britain  is 
now  nine  and  two  thirds  per  cent. 

Out  of  a  pound  or  12  ounces  of  standard  gold,  44 
guineas  and  a  half  are  ordained  to  be  coined.  This  is 
£3.  17s.  l(Hd  an  ounce.  Now  the  current  market 
price  of  standard  gold  is  £3.  19s.  an  ounce,  which 
makes  not  quite  one  and  a  half  per  cent  difference 
between  the  coined  and  uncoined  gold. 

The  state  out  of  duties  imposed  pays  for  the  charge 
of  coining,  as  indeed  it  ought,  for  it  is  for  public  con- 
venience, as  already  said,  that  coins  are  made.  It  is 
the  current  market  price  of  gold  and  silver  that  must 
govern  the  carrying  it  to  the  mint.  It  is  absurd  to 
think,  that  any  one  should  carry  gold  to  be  coined  that 
should  cost  more  than<£3.  17s.  10£r/.an  ounce,  or  silver 
more  than  62  pence  the  ounce ;  and  as  absurd  would 
it  be  to  pretend,  that  those  prices  only  shall  be  the 
constant,  invariable  prires.  It  is  contended,  that  there 


414  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

is  not  a  proper  proportion  fixed  in  the  value  of  one 
metal  to  another,  and  this  requires  alteration. 

11.  It  may  be  urged,  that  should  the  legislature  fix 
the  proportion  of  silver  to  gold,  as  in  other  countries, 
by  ordering  65  shillings  instead  of  62  to  be  cut  out  of 
a  pound   of  standard   silver,    yet  still   there   would  be 
four  and  two  thirds  per  cent  difference  between  coined 
and  uncoined  silver ;   whereas  there  is  but  about  one 
and  a  half  per  cent  difference  in  gold. 

On  this  we  shall  observe,  that  the  course  of  trade, 
not  to  mention  extraordinary  accidents,  will  make  one 
metal  more  in  request  at  one  time  than  another;  and  the 
legislature  in  no  one  particular  country  can  bias,  or  pre- 
scribe rules  or  laws  to  influence,  such  demand,  which 
ever  must  depend  on  the  great  chain  of  things  in  which 
all  the  operations  of  this  world  are  linked.  Freedom 
and  security  only  are  wanted  in  trade;  nor  does  coin 
require  more,  if  a  just  proportion  in  the  metals  be 
settled. 

12.  To  return  to  gold  ;  it  is  matter  of  surprise,  that 
the  division  of  the  piece  called  a  guinea  has  not  been 
made  smaller  than  just  one  half,  as  it  now  is ;  that  is, 
into  quarters,  thirds,  and  two-thirds.     Hereby  the  want 
of  silver  coin  might  be  greatly  provided  for,  and  those 
pieces,  together  with  the  light  silver   coin,  which  can 
only  now  remain  with  us,  would  sufficiently  serve  the 
uses  in  circulation. 

In  Portugal,  where  almost  all  their  coin  is  gold, 
there  are  divisions  of  the  moedas,  or  27  shilling  pieces, 
into  tenths,  sixths,  quarters,  thirds,  halves,  and  two- 
thirds  ;  of  the  moeda  and  one-third,  or  36  shilling  piece, 
into  eighths,  quarters,  and  halves. 

13.  That   to   the  lightness   of  the   silver   coin  now 
remaining  in  Great  Britain  we  owe  all  the  silver  coin 
we  now  have,  any  person  with  weights  and  scales  may 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  415 

prove ;  as  upwards  of  70  shillings  coined  in  the  reign 
of  King  William,  or  dexterously  counterfeited  by  false 
coiners,  will  scarce  weigh  12  ounces  or  a  pound  troy. 

1 4.  All  the  art  of  man  can  never  hinder  a  constant 
exportation  and  importation  of  gold  and  silver  to  make 
up  for  the  different  calls  and  balances  that  may  happen 
in  trade ;  for,  were  silver  to  be  coined  as  above,  65  shil- 
lings out  of  a   pound  troy   weight  of  standard  silver, 
if  those  65  shillings  would  sell  at  a  price  that  makes 
it  worth  while  to  melt  or  export  them,  they  must  and 
will  be  considered  and  used  as  a  merchandise ;  and  the 
same  will  hold  as  to  gold. 

Though  the  proportion  of  about  fourteen  and  a  half 
of  pure  silver  to  one  of  pure  gold  in  neighbouring  states 
be  now  fixed  in  regard  to  their  coin,  and  it  is  submitted 
such  proportion  should  be  attended  to  in  this  kingdom, 
yet  that  proportion  may  be  subject  to  alteration;  for 
this  plain  reason,  that,  should ,  the  silver  mines  produce 
a  quantity  of  that  metal  so  as  to  make  it  greatly  abound 
more  in  proportion  than  it  now  does,  and  the  gold 
mines  produce  no  more  than  now  they  do,  more  silver 
must  be  requisite  to  purchase  gold. 

15.  That  the  welfare  of  any  state    depends  on   its 
keeping  all  its  gold  and  silver  either  in  bullion  or  in 
coin  is  a  very  narrow  principle;  all  the  republics  we 
know  of  wisely  think  otherwise.     It  is  an  utter  impos- 
sibility, nor  should  it  ever  be  aimed  at ;  for  gold  and 
silver  are  as  clearly  a  merchandise  as   lead  and    tin, 
arid   consequently  should  have  a  perfect  freedom  and 
liberty,*  coined  and  uncoined,  to  go  and  to  come,  pass 

*  As  a  general  principle  this  is  unquestionably  true  ;  but  it  must  be 
general  or  every  nation  with  whom  commerce  is  extensively  carried  on 
must  alike  adopt  it,  or  the  principle  immediately  assumes  an  exception- 
able character,  and  nations  liable  to  be  affected  by  it  must  provide  means 
to  counteract  the  effects  of  a  sudden  drain  of  the  usual  circulating 


416  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

and  repass,  from  one  country  to  another  in  the  general 
circulation  and  fluctuation  of  commerce,  which  will 
ever  carry  a  general  balance  with  it ;  for  we  should  as 
soon  give  our  lead,  our  tin,  or  any  other  product  of  our 
land  or  industry,  to  those  who  want  them,  without  an 
equivalent  in  some  shape  or  other,  as  we  should  gold 
or  silver,  which  it  would  be  absurd  to  imagine  can 
ever  be  done  by  our  nation  or  by  any  nation  upon 
earth. 

16.  From  Spain  and  Portugal  come  the  greatest  part 
of  gold  and  silver,  and  the  Spanish  court  very  wisely 
permits  the  exportation  of  it  on  paying  a  duty,  as  in 
Great  Britain  lead  and  tin  do  when  exported ;  whereas 
heretofore,  and  as  it  still  continues  in  Portugal,  penal 
laws  were  enacted  against  the  sending  it  out  of  the 
country.     Surely  princes  by  enacting  such  laws  could 
not  think  they  had    it  in   their  power   to   decree  and 
establish,  that  their  subjects  or  themselves  should  not 
give  an  equivalent  for  what  was  furnished  to  them  ! 

17.  It  is  not  our  intention  to  descend  into,  or  to  dis- 
cuss minutely,  particular  notions  or  systems,  such  as, 
that  silver  and  not  gold  should  be  the  standard  money 
or  coin ;   that  copper  is  an   unfit  material  for  money ; 
and,    that   paper  circulating  as,   and  called    artificial 
money,  is  detrimental.     Yet,  as  these  doctrines  seem  to 
proceed  from  considering  bultion   and    money  or  coin 
in  a  different  light  from  what  we  apprehend  and  have 
laid  down,  we  will  observe, 

18.  That  it  matters  not  whether  silver  or  gold  be 
called  standard  money ;  but  it  seems  most  rational,  that 
the  most  scarce  and  precious  metal  should  be  the  unit 
or  standard. 

medium,  because  the  absence  of  a  great  quantity  of  the  medium  alters 
the  price  of  exchange,  or  relative  exchange  of  current  money  for  neces- 
sary labor  and  subsistence,  and  depreciates  other  property.  —  W.  T.  P. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  417 

19.  That,  as  to  copper,  it  is  as  fit  for  money  or   a 
counter  as  gold  and  silver,  provided  it  be  coined  of  a 
proper  weight  and  fineness ;  and  just  so  much  will  be 
useful  as  will  serve  to  make  up  small  parts  in  exchanges 
between  man  and  man. 

20.  That,  as   to  paper   money,  it  is  far  from  being 
detrimental;  on  the  contrary,  it  is  highly  profitable,  as 
its  quick  passing  between  mankind,   instead  of  telling 
over  or  weighing  metal  in  coin  or  bullion,  is  a  gain  of 
what   is  most   precious    in   life,  which    is   time.     And 
there  is  nothing  clearer,  than  that  those  who  must  be 
concerned  in  counting  and  weighing,  being  at  liberty 
to  employ  themselves  on  other  purposes,  are  an  addition 
of  hands  in  the  community. 

The  idea  of  the  too  great  extension  of  credit,  by  the 
circulation  of  paper  for  money,  is  evidently  as  erroneous 
as  the  doctrine  of  the  non -exportation  of  gold  and 
silver  in  bullion  or  coin  ;  for,  were  it  not  certain,  that 
paper  could  command  the  equivalent  of  its  agreed-for 
value,  or  that  gold  and  silver  in  bullion  or  coin,  export- 
ed, would  be  returned  in  the  course  of  trade  in  some 
other  merchandise,  neither  paper  would  be  used  nor 
the  metals  exported.  It  is  by  means  of  the  produce 
of  the  land  and  the  happy  situation  of  this  island, 
joined  to  the  industry  of  its  inhabitants,  that  those 
much  adored  metals,  gold  and  silver,  have  been  pro- 
cured ;  and  so  long  as  the  sea  does  not  overflow  the 
land  and  industry  continues,  so  long  will  those  metals 
not  be  wanting.  And  paper  in  the  general  chain  of 
credit  and  commerce  is  as  useful  as  they  are,  since 
the  issuers  or  coiners  of  that  paper  are  understood  to 
have  some  equivalent  to  answer  for  what  the  paper  is 
valued  at,  and  no  metal  or  coin  can  do  more  than  fim) 
its  value. 

Moreover,    as  incontestable  advantages  of   paper  wv 

VOL.  IT.  27 


418  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

must  add,  that  the  charge  of  coining  or  making  it  is 
by  no  means  proportionate  to  that  of  coining  of  metals ; 
nor  is  it  subject  to  waste  by  long  use,  or  impaired  by 
adulteration,  sweating,  or  filing,  as  coins  may. 


NOTIONS 

CONCERNING  TRADE  AND  MERCHANTS. 

1.  WERE  it  possible  for  men,  remote  from  each  other, 
to   know  easily   one  another's   wants  and  abundances, 
and  practicable  for  them   on  all  occasions  conveniently 
to  meet  and  make  fair  exchanges   of  their  respective 
commodities,  there  would  then  be  no  use  of  the  middle 
man  or  merchant ;  such  a  profession  would  not  exist. 

2.  But,  since  that  is  not  possible,  were  all  govern- 
ments to  appoint  a  number  of  public  officers,  whose 
duty  and  business  it  should  be  to  inform  themselves 
thoroughly  of  those  wants  and  abundances,  and  to  pro- 
cure, by  proper  management,  all  the   exchanges  that 
would   tend   to  increase   the   general   happiness,  such 
officers,  if  they  could  well  discharge  their  trust,  would 
deserve  honors  and  salaries  equivalent  to  their  industry 
and  fidelity. 

3.  But,  as  in  large  communities,  and  for  the  more 
general  occasions  of  mankind,  such   officers  have  never 
been  appointed,  perhaps  from  a  conviction  that  it  would 
be  impracticable  for  such  an  appointment  effectually  to 
answer  its  purpose,  it  seems  necessary  to  permit  men, 
who  for  the  possible  profits  in  prospect  will  undertake 
it,  to  fetch  and  carry,  at  all  distances,  the  produce  of 
other  men's  industry,  and   thereby    assist  those  useful 
exchanges. 

4.  As  the  persons  primarily  interested  in  these  ex- 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  419 

changes  cannot  conveniently  meet  to  make  known  their 
wants  and  abundances,  and  to  bargain  for  exchanges, 
those  who  transport  the  goods  should  be  interested  to 
study  the  probability  of  these  wants,  and  where  to  find 
the  means  of  supplying  them  ;  and,  since  there  exist 
no  salaries  or  public  rewards  for  them  in  proportion  to 
their  skill,  industry,  and  utility  to  the  people  in  general, 
nor  to  make  them  any  compensation  for  their  losses 
arising  from  inexpertness  or  from  accident,  it  seems 
reasonable  that,  for  their  encouragement  to  follow  the 
business,  they  should  be  left  to  make  such  profits  by  it 
as  they  can,  which,  where  it  is  open  to  all,  will  probably 
seldom  be  extravagant.  And  perhaps  by  this  means 
the  business  will  be  better  done  for  the  general  advan- 
tage, and  those  who  do  it  more  properly  rewarded 
according  to  their  merits,  than  would  be  the  case,  were 
special  officers  to  be  appointed  for  that  service. 


A    THOUGHT 
CONCERNING  THE  SUGAR  ISLANDS. 

SHOULD  it  be  agreed,  and  become  a  part  of  the  law 
of  nations,  that  the  cultivators  of  the  earth  are  not  to  be 
molested  or  interrupted  in  their  peaceable  and  use- 
ful employment,  the  inhabitants  of  the  sugar  islands 
would  come  under  the  protection  of  such  a  regulation, 
which  would  be  a  great  advantage  to  the  nations  who  at 
present  hold  those  islands ;  since  the  cost  of  sugar  to  the 
consumer  in  those  nations  consists,  not  only  in  the  price 
he  pays  for  it  by  the  pound,  but  in  the  accumulated 
charge  of  all  the  taxes  he  pays  in  every  war  to  fit  out 
fleets  and  maintain  troops  for  the  defence  of  the  islands 
that  raise  the  sugar,  and  the  ships  that  bring  it  home. 


420  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

But  the  expense  of  treasure  is  not  all.  A  celebrated 
philosophical  writer  remarks,  that,  when  he  considered 
the  wars  made  in  Africa  for  prisoners  to  raise  sugar  in 
America,  the  numbers  slain  in  those  wars,  the  numbers 
that,  being  crowded  in  ships,  perish  in  the  transporta- 
tion, and  the  numbers  that  die  under  the  severities  of 
slavery,  he  could  scarce  look  on  a  morsel  of  sugar  with- 
out conceiving  it  spotted  with  human  blood.  If  he  had 
considered  also  the  blood  of  one  another  which  the 
white  natives  shed  in  fighting  for  those  islands,  he 
would  have  imagined  his  sugar  not  as  spotted  only,  but 
as  thoroughly  dyed  red. 

On  these  accounts  I  am  persuaded  that  the  subjects 
of  the  Emperor  of  Germany,  and  the  Empress  of  Rus- 
sia, who  have  no  sugar  islands,  consume  sugar  cheaper 
at  Vienna  and  Moscow,  with  all  the  charge  of  transport- 
ing it,  after  its  arrival  in  Europe,  than  the  citizens  of 
London  and  Paris.  And  I  sincerely  believe,  that,  if 
France  and  England  were  to  decide  by  throwing  dice, 
which  should  have  the  whole  of  their  sugar  islands,  the 
loser  in  the  throw  would  be  the  gainer.  The  future 
expense  ©f  defending  them  would  be  saved ;  the  su- 
gars would  be  bought  cheaper  by  all  Europe,  if  the  in- 
habitants might  make  it  without  interruption  ;  and,  who- 
ever imported  the  sugar,  the  same  revenue  might  be 
raised  by  duties  at  the  custom-house  of  the  nation  that 
consumed  it.  And,  on  the  whole,  I  conceive  it  would 
be  better  for  the  nations  now  possessing  sugar  colonies, 
to  give  up  their  claim  to  them,  let  them  govern  them- 
selves, and  put  them  under  the  protection  of  all  the 
powers  of  Europe  as  neutral  countries  open  to  the  com- 
merce of  all,  the  profit  of  the  present  monopolies  being 
by  no  means  equivalent  to  the  expense  of  maintaining 
them. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  421 

OF    THE    PAPER    MONEY 
OF  THE  UNITED  STATES  OF  AMERICA. 

MUCH  conversation  having  arisen  lately  on  the  sub- 
ject of  this  money,  and  few  persons  being  well  ac- 
quainted with  the  nature  of  it,  you  may  possibly  oblige 
many  of  your  readers  by  the  following  account  of  it. 

When  Great  Britain  commenced  the  present  war 
upon  the  colonies,  they  had  neither  arms  nor  ammuni- 
tion, nor  money  to  purchase  them  or  to  pay  soldiers. 
The  new  government  had  not  immediately  the  con- 
sistence necessary  for  collecting  heavy  taxes ;  nor  would 
taxes  that  could  be  raised  within  the  year  during  peace, 
have  been  sufficient  for  a  year's  expense  in  time  of 
war ;  they  therefore  printed  a  quantity  of  paper  bills, 
each  expressing  to  be  of  the  value  of  a  certain  number 
of  Spanish  dollars,  from  one  to  thirty ;  with  these  they 
paid,  clothed,  and  fed  their  troops,  fitted  out  ships,  and 
supported  the  war  during  five  years  against  one  of  the 
most  powerful  nations  of  Europe. 

The  pape"  thus  issued,  passed  current  in  all  the 
internal  commerce  of  the  United  States  at  par  with  sil- 
ver during  fhe  first  year ;  supplying  the  place  of  the  gold 
and  silver  formerly  current,  but  which  was  sent  out  of 
the  country  to  purchase  arms,  &,c.,  or  to  defray  ex- 
penses of  the  army  in  Canada ;  but  the  great  num- 
ber of  troops  necessary  to  be  kept  on  foot  to  defend  a 
coast  of  near  five  hundred  leagues  in  length,  from  an  ene- 
my, who,  being  masters  at  sea,  could  land  troops  where 
they  pleased,  occasioned  such  a  demand  for  money,  and 
such  frequent  additional  emissions  of  new  bills,  that 
the  quantity  became  much  greater  than  was  wanted 
for  the  purposes  of  commerce ;  and,  the  commerce 


422  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

being  diminished  by  the  war,  the  surplus  quantity  of 
cash  was  by  that  means  also  proportionally  augmented. 

It  has  been  long  and  often  observed,  that  when  the 
current  money  of  a  country  is  augmented  beyond  the 
occasions  for  money,  as  a  medium  of  commerce,  its  value 
as  money  diminishes.  Its  interest  is  reduced,  and  the 
principal  sinks,  if  some  means  are  not  found  to  take 
off  the  surplus  quantity.  Silver  may  be  carried  out  of 
the  country  that  produces  it,  into  other  countries,  and 
thereby  prevent  too  great  a  fall  of  its  value  in  that 
country.  But,  when  by  this  means  it  grows  more  plen- 
tiful in  all  other  countries,  nothing  prevents  its  sinking 
in  value.  Thus  within  three  hundred  years  since  the 
discovery  of  America,  and  the  vast  quantities  of  gold 
and  silver  imported  from  thence,  and  spread  over 
Europe  and  the  rest  of  the  world,  those  metals  have 
sunk  in  value  four  fifths,  that  is,  five  ounces  of  silver 
will  not  purchase  more  labor  now  than  an  ounce  would 
have  done  before  that  discovery. 

Had  Spain  been  able  to  confine  all  that  treasure 
within  its  own  territories,  silver  would  probably  have 
been  there  of  no  more  value  by  this  time  than  iron  or 
lead.  The  exportation  has  kept  its  value  on  a  level 
with  its  value  in  other  parts  of  the  world.  Paper  money 
not  being  easily  received  out  of  the  country  that  makes 
it,  if  the  quantity  becomes  excessive,  the  depreciation 
is  quicker  and  greater. 

Thus  the  excessive  quantities  which  necessity  ob- 
liged the  Americans  to  issue  for  continuing  the  war, 
occasioned  a  depreciation  of  value,  which,  commencing 
towards  the  end  of  1776,  has  gone  on  augmenting,  till 
at  the  beginning  of  the  present  year,  fifty,  sixty,  and 
as  far  as  seventy  dollars  in  paper  were  reckoned  not 
more  than  eq  tal  to  one  dollar  in  silver,  and  the  prices 
of  all  things  rose  in  proportion. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  423 

Before  the  depreciation  commenced,  the  Congress, 
fearing  it,  stopped  for  a  time  the  emission  of  new  bills, 
and  resolved  to  supply  their  occasions  by  borrowing. 
Those  who  lent  them  the  paper  money  at  that  time 
and  until  March,  1778,  fixed  their  property  and  pre- 
vented its  depreciation ;  the  interest  being  regularly 
paid  by  bills  of  exchange  on  France,  which  supports 
the  value  of  the  principal  sums  lent. 

These  loans  not  being  sufficient,  the  Congress  were 
forced  to  print  more  bills,  and  depreciation  proceeded. 
The  Congress  would  borrow  no  more  on  the  former 
conditions  of  paying  the  interest  in  French  money  at 
Paris ;  but  great  sums  were  offered  and  lent  them  on 
the  terms  of  being  paid  the  interest,  and  repaid  the 
principal  in  the  same  bills  in  America. 

These  loans  in  some  degree  lessened,  but  did  not 
quite  take  away,  the  necessity  of  new  emissions ;  so  that 
it  at  length  arrived  at  the  excessive  difference  between 
the  value  of  paper  and  silver,  that  is  above  mentioned. 

To  put  an  end  to  this  evil,  which  destroyed  all  cer- 
tainty in  commerce,  the  Congress  first  resolved  to  dimin- 
ish the  quantity  gradually  by  taxes,  which,  though 
nominally  vastly  great,  were  really  less  heavy  than  they 
appeared  to  be,  and  were  readily  paid.  Bv  these  taxes 
fifteen  millions  of  Spanish  dollars,  of  the  two  hundred 
millions  extant,  are  to  be  brought  in  monthly  and  burnt. 
This  operation  will  destroy  the  whole  quantity,  to  wit, 
two  hundred  millions,  in  about  fourteen  months.  Thirty 
millions  have  already  been  so  destroyed. 

To  prevent  in  the  mean  time  the  farther  progress  of 
the  depreciation,  and  give  some  kind  of  determinate 
value  to  the  paper,  it  was  ordained,  that,  for  every 
sum  of  forty  dollars  payable  by  any  person  as  tax,  he 
might  discharge  himself  by  paying  one  dollar  in  silver. 
Whether  this  expedient  will  produce  the  effect  intend- 
ed or  not.  experience  and  time  must  discover. 


424  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

The  general  effect  of  the  depreciation  among  the 
inhabitants  of  the  States  has  been  this,  that  it  has 
operated  as  a  gradual  tax  upon  them,  their  business 
has  been  done  and  paid  for  by  the  paper  money,  and 
every  man  has  paid  his  share  of  the  tax  according  to 
the  time  he  retained  any  of  the  money  in  his  hands, 
and  to  the  depreciation  within  that  time.  Thus  it  has 
proved  a  tax  on  money,  a  kind  of  property  very  diffi- 
cult to  be  taxed  in  any  other  mode ;  and  it  has  fallen 
more  equally  than  many  other  taxes,  as  those  people 
paid  most,  who,  being  richest,  had  most  money  passing 
through  their  hands. 

With  regard  to  the  paper  money  or  bills  borrowed 
by  the  Congress,  it  appears  by  the  above  account  to  be 
under  two  different  descriptions. 

First,  the  quantity  of  bills  borrowed  before  the  de- 
preciation, the  interest  of  which  in  silver  was  to  be 
and  is  paid.  The  principal  of  this  sum  is  considered 
as  equal  in  value  to  so  many  dollars  of  silver  as  were 
borrowed  in  paper,  and  will  be  paid  in  silver  accord- 
ingly- 

Secondly,  the  quantities  of  bills  borrowed  in  differ- 
ent stages  of  the  depreciation  down  to  the  present 
time.  These  sums  are,  by  a  resolution  of  Congress,  to 
be  repaid  in  silver  according  to  the  value  they  were 
of  in  silver  at  the  time  they  were  lent ;  and  the  inter- 
est is  to  be  paid  at  the  same  rate.  Thus  those  lenders 
have  their  property  secured  from  the  loss  by  deprecia- 
tion subsequent  to  the  time  of  their  loan. 

All  the  inhabitants  are  satisfied  and  pleased  with 
this  arrangement,  their  public  debt  being  by  this  means 
reduced  to  a  small  sum.  And  the  new  paper  money, 
which  bears  interest,  and  for  the  payment  of  which 
solid  funds  are  provided,  is  actually  in  credit  equal  to 
real  silver. 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  425 

If  any  persons  living  in  distant  countries  have,  through 
their  absence  from  their  property  in  America,  suffered 
loss  by  not  having  it  timely  fixed  in  the  several  loans 
above  mentioned,  it  is  not  doubted  but  that,  upon  an 
application  to  Congress  stating  the  case,  they  will  meet 
with  redress. 

The  real  money  used  in  the  United  States  is  French, 
Spanish,  Portuguese,  and  English  coins,  gold  and  silver. 
The  most  common  is  Spanish  milled  dollars,  worth  five 
livres  five  sols  tournois. 

The  nominal  money  is  generally  paper,  reckoned  in 
pounds,  shillings,  and  pence,  of  different  value  in  the 
different  States  when  compared  with  real  money,  and 
that  value  often  changing,  so  that  nothing  certain  can 
be  said  of  it.  Everywhere  the  accounts  are  kept  in 
the  nominal  pounds,  shillings,  and  pence,  the  pound  con- 
taining twenty  shillings,  and  the  shilling  twelve  pence, 
whatever  may  be  the  real  value. 

Bills  of  exchange  are  frequently  drawn  on  Europe ; 
the  rate  of  exchange  differing  in  different  States,  and 
fluctuating  in  the  same  State,  occasioned  by  the  greater 
or  less  plenty  of  bills  or  of  demand  for  others;  they 
are  commonly  drawn  at  thirty  days'  sight. 

The  usages  in  buying  and  selling  merchandises,  are 
much  the  same  as  in  Europe,  except  that  in  Virginia 
the  planter  carries  his  tobacco  to  magazines,  where  it 
is  inspected  by  officers,  who  ascertain  its  quality  and 
give  receipts  expressing  the  quantity.  The  merchants 
receive  these  receipts  in  payment  for  goods,  and  after- 
wards draw  the  tobacco  out  of  the  magazines  for  ex- 
portation. Weights  and  measures  are  uniform  in  all 
the  States,  following  the  standard  of  Great  Britain. 

Money  is  lent  either  upon  bond  or  on  mortgage,  pay- 
able in  a  year  with  interest.  The  interest  differs  in 
the  different  States  from  five  to  seven  per  cent. 


426  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

Goods  are  generally  imported  on  eighteen  months' 
credit  from  Europe,  sold  in  the  country  at  twelve 
months'  credit. 

Billets  or  promissory  notes}  payable  to  the  creditoi 
or  order,  are  in  use,  and  demandable  when  due,  as 
well  as  accepted  bills  of  exchange,  without  any  days 
of  grace,  but  by  particular  favor. 


COMPARISON 

OF  GREAT  BRITAIN  AND    THE  UNITED  STATES 

IN    REGARD    TO 

THE  BASIS  OF  CREDIT  IN  THE  TWO  COUNTRIES. 


This  paper  was  written  in  the  year  1777,  while  Franklin  was 
one  of  the  Commissioners  from  the  United  States  in  France.  The 
object  was  to  produce  in  Europe  a  just  impression  of  the  resources 
and  political  condition  and  prospects  of  the  United  States,  with  the 
view  of  encouraging  governments  and  private  capitalists  to  loan 
money  to  the  American  Congress.  It  was  translated  into  various 
languages  and  widely  circulated.  —  EDITOR. 


IN  borrowing  money,  a  man's  credit  depends  on 
some,  or  all,  of  the  following  particulars. 

First.  His  known  conduct  respecting  former  loans, 
and  his  punctuality  in  discharging  them. 

Secondly.    His  industry. 

Thirdly.    His  frugality. 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  427 

Fourthly.  The  amount  and  the  certainty  of  his  in- 
come, and  the  freedom  of  his  estate  from  the  incum- 
brances  of  prior  debts. 

Fifthly.  His  well-founded  prospects  of  greater  future 
ability,  by  the  improvement  of  his  estate  in  value,  and 
by  aids  from  others. 

Sixthly.  His  known  prudence  in  managing  his 
general  affairs,  and  the  advantage  they  will  probably 
receive  from  the  loan  which  he  desires. 

Seventhly.  His  known  probity  and  honest  character, 
manifested  by  his  voluntary  discharge  of  debts,  which 
he  could  not  have  been  legally  compelled  to  pay. 
The  circumstances,  which  give  credit  to  an  individual, 
ought  to  have,  and  will  have,  their  weight  upon  the 
lenders  of  money  to  public  bodies  or  nations.  If  then 
we  consider  and*  compare  Britain  and  America  in 
these  several  particulars,  upon  the  question,  "To  which 
is  it  safest  to  lend  money?"  we  shall  find, 

1.  Respecting  former   loans,    that    America,    who 
borrowed   ten   millions    during   the   last   war,   for   the 
maintenance  of  her  army  of  twenty -five  thousand  men 
and  other  charges,  had  faithfully  discharged  and  paid 
that  debt,  and  all  her  other  debts,  in  1772.     Whereas 
Britain,  during  those  ten  years  of  peace  and  profitable 
commerce,  had  made  little  or  no  reduction  of  her  debt ; 
but  on  the  contrary,  from  time  to  time,  diminished  the 
hopes  of  her   creditors    by   a   wanton    diversion    and 
misapplication  of  the   sinking   fund   destined   for   dis- 
charging it. 

2.  Respecting  industry ;   every  man  in  America  is 
employed ;   the  greater   part   in   cultivating   their  own 
lands,  the  rest  in  handicrafts,  navigation,  and  commerce. 
An  idle  man  there  is  a  rarity ;    idleness  and  inutility 
are  disgraceful.     In  England  the  number  of  that  char- 
acter is  immense ;  fashion  has  spread  it  far  and  wide. 


428  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

Hence  the  embarrassments  of  private  fortunes,  and  the 
daily  bankruptcies,  arising  from  a  universal  fondness 
for  appearance  and  expensive  pleasures;  and  hence, 
in  some  degree,  the  mismanagement  of  public  busi- 
ness ;  for  habits  of  business,  and  ability  in  it,  are 
acquired  only  by  practice ;  and,  where  universal  dissi- 
pation and  the  perpetual  pursuit  of  amusement  are 
the  mode,  the  youth  educated  in  it  can  rarely  after- 
wards acquire  that  patient  attention  and  close  appli- 
cation to  affairs,  which  are  so  necessary  to  a  statesman 
charged  with  the  care  of  national  welfare.  Hence 
their  frequent  errors  in  policy,  and  hence  the  weariness 
at  public  councils,  and  backwardness  in  going  to  them, 
the  constant  unwillingness  to  engage  in  any  measure 
that  requires  thought  and  consideration,  and  the  readi- 
ness for  postponing  every  new  proposition ;  which 
postponing  is  therefore  the  only  part  of  business  they 
come  to  be  expert  in,  an  expertness  produced  neces- 
sarily by  so  much  daily  practice,  Whereas,  in  America, 
men  bred  to  close  employment  in  their  private  affairs 
attend  with  ease  to  those  of  the  public  when  engaged 
in  them,  and  nothing  fails  through  negligence. 

3.  Respecting  frugality ;  the  manner  of  living  in 
America  is  more  simple  and  less  expensive  than  in 
England ;  plain  tables,  plain  clothing,  and  plain  fur- 
niture in  houses  prevail,  with  few  carriages  of  pleasure. 
There  an  expensive  appearance  hurts  credit,  and  is 
avoided  ;  in  England  it  is  often  assumed  to  gain  credit, 
and  continued  to  ruin.  Respecting  public  affairs,  the  dif- 
ference is  still  greater.  In  England  the  salaries  of  officers 
and  emoluments  of  office  are  enormous.  The  King  has 
a  million  sterling  per  annum,  and  yet  cannot  maintain 
his  family  free  of  debt;  secretaries  of  state,  lords  of 
the  treasury,  admiralty,  &,c.,  Iiav3  vast  appointments;  an 
auditor  of  the  exchequer  has  sixpence  in  the  pound, 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  429 

or  a  fortieth  part,  of  all  the  public  money  expended  by 
the  nation,  so  that,  when  a  war  costs  forty  millions, 
one  million  is  paid  to  him ;  an  inspector  of  the  mint, 
in  the  last  new  coinage,  received  as  his  fee  £  65,000 
sterling  per  annum ;  to  all  which  rewards  no  service 
these  gentlemen  can  render  the  public  is  by  any  means 
equivalent.  All  this  is  paid  by  the  people,  who  are 
oppressed  by  taxes  so  occasioned,  and  thereby  ren- 
dered less  able  to  contribute  to  the  payment  of 
necessary  national  debts.  In  America,  salaries,  where 
indispensable,  are  extremely  low;  but  much  of  the 
public  business  is  done  gratis.  The  honor  of  serving 
the  public  ably  and  faithfully  is  deemed  sufficient 
Public  spirit  really  exists  there,  and  has  great  effects. 
In  England  it  is  universally  deemed  a  nonentity,  and 
whoever  pretends  to  it  is  laughed  at  as  a  fool,  or  sus- 
pected as  a  knave.  The  committees  of  Congress, 
which  form  the  board  of  war,  the  board  of  treasury, 
the  board  of  foreign  affairs,  the  naval  board,  that  for 
accounts,  &c.,  all  attend  the  business  of  their  respective 
functions  without  any  salary  or  emolument  whatever, 
though  they  spend  in  it  much  more  of  their  time,  than 
any  lord  of  the  treasury  or  admiralty  in  England  can 
spare  from  his  amusements.  A  British  minister  lately 
computed,  that  the  whole  expense  of  the  Americans 
in  their  civil  government,  over  three  millions  of  people, 
amounted  to  but  £70,000  sterling,  and  drew  from 
thence  a  conclusion,  that  they  ought  to  be  taxed,  until 
their  expense  was  equal  in  proportion  to  that  which  it 
costs  Great  Britain  to  govern  eight  millions.  He  had 
no  idea  of  a  contrary  conclusion,  that,  if  three  millions 
may  be  well  governed  for  .£70,000,  eight  millons  may 
be  as  well  governed  for  three  times  that  sum,  and  that 
therefore  the  expense  of  his  own  government  should 


430  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

be  diminished.  In  that  corrupted  nation,  no  man  is 
ashamed  of  being  concerned  in  lucrative  government 
jobs,  in  which  the  public  money  is  egregiously  misap- 
plied and  squandered,  the  treasury  pillaged,  and  more 
numerous  and  heavy  taxes  accumulated,  to  the  great 
oppression  of  the  people.  But  the  prospect  of  a 
greater  number  of  such  jobs  by  a  war  is  an  induce- 
ment with  many  to  cry  out  for  war  upon  all  occasions, 
and  to  oppose  every  proposition  of  peace.  Hence  the 
constant  increase  of  the  national  debt,  and  the  absolute 
improbability  of  its  ever  being  discharged. 

4.  Respecting  the  amount  and  certainty  of  income, 
and  solidity  of  security ;   the  whole  thirteen  States  of 
America   are   engaged  for  the  payment  of  every  debt 
contracted  by  the  Congress,  and  the  debt  to  be  con- 
tracted by  the  present  war  is  the  only  debt  they  will 
have   to   pay;   all,    or  nearly  all,  the  former  debts  of 
particular  colonies  being  already  discharged.     Whereas 
England  will  have  to  pay,  not  only  the  enormous  debt 
this  war   must   occasion,  but   all  their   vast  preceding 
debt,   or   the    interest   of   it;    and,   while    America   is 
enriching  itself  by  prizes  made  upon  the  British  com- 
merce, more  than  it  ever  did  by  any  commerce  of  its 
own,  under  the  restraints  of  a  British  monopoly,  Brit- 
ain is  growing  poorer  by  the  diminution  of  its  reve- 
nues, and  of  course  less  able  to  discharge  the  present 
indiscreet  increase  of  its  expenses. 

5.  Respecting   prospects   of   greater  future   ability, 
Britain  has  none  such.     Her  islands  are  circumscribed 
by  the  ocean ;   and,  excepting  a  few  parks  or  forests, 
she  has  no  new  land  to  cultivate,  and  cannot  therefore 
extend  her  improvements.     Her  numbers,  too,  instead 
of  increasing  from   increased    subsistence,    are   contin- 
ually  diminishing   from   growing    luxury,   and    the   in- 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  431 

creasing  difficulties  of  maintaining  families,  which  of 
course  discourage  early  marriages.  Thus  she  will 
nave  fewer  people  to  assist  in  paying  her  debts,  and 
mat  diminishing  number  will  be  poorer.  America,  on 
the  contrary,  has,  besides  her  lands  already  cultivated, 
a  vast  territory  yet  to  be  cultivated;  which,  being  cul- 
tivated, continually  increases  in  value  with  the  increase 
of  people;  and  the  people,  who  double  themselves 
by  a  natural  propagation  every  twenty -five  years,  will 
double  yet  faster  by  the  accession  of  strangers,  as 
long  as  lands  are  to  be  had  for  new  families ;  so  that 
every  twenty  years  there  will  be  a  double  number  of 
inhabitants  obliged  to  discharge  the  public  debts ;  and 
those  inhabitants,  being  more  opulent,  may  pay  their 
shares  with  greater  ease. 

6.  Respecting  prudence  in  general  affairs,  and  the 
advantages  to  be  expected  from  the  loan  desired, 
the  Americans  are  cultivators  of  land ;  those  engaged 
in  fishery  and  commerce  are  few,  compared  with  the 
others.  They  have  ever  conducted  their  several 
governments  with  wisdom,  avoiding  wars  and  vain, 
expensive  projects,  delighting  only  in  their  peaceable 
occupations,  which  must,  considering  the  extent  of 
their  uncultivated  territory,  find  them  employment  still 
for  ages.  Whereas  England,  ever  unquiet,  ambitious, 
avaricious,  imprudent,  and  quarrelsome,  is  half  of  the 
time  engaged  in  war,  always  at  an  expense  infinitely 
greater  than  the  advantages  to  be  obtained  by  it,  if 
successful.  Thus  they  made  war  against  Spain  in 
1 739,  for  a  claim  of  about  £  95,000,  (scarce  a  groat 
for  each  individual  of  the  nation),  and  spent  forty 
millions  sterling  in  the  war,  and  the  lives  of  fifty  thou- 
sand men;  and  finally  made  peace  without  obtaining 
satisfaction  for  the  sum  claimed.  Indeed,  there  is 


432  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

scarce  a  nation  in  Europe,  against  which  she  has  not 
made  war  on  some  frivolous  pretext  or  other,  and 
thereby  imprudently  accumulated  a  debt,  that  has 
brought  her  on  the  verge  of  bankruptcy.  But  the 
most  indiscreet  of  all  her  wars  is  the  present  against 
America,  with  whom  she  might  for  ages  have  preserved 
her  profitable  connexion  only  by  a  just  and  equitable 
conduct.  She  is  now  acting  like  a  mad  shop-keeper, 
who,  by  beating  those  that  pass  his  doors,  attempts  to 
make  them  come  in  and  be  his  customers.  America 
cannot  submit  to  such  treatment,  without  being  first 
ruined,  and,  being  ruined,  her  custom  will  be  worth 
nothing.  England,  to  effect  this,  is  increasing  her 
debt,  and  irretrievably  ruining  herself.  America,  on 
the  other  hand,  aims  only  to  establish  her  liberty,  and 
that  freedom  of  commerce  which  will  be  advantageous 
to  all  Europe ;  and,  by  abolishing  that  monopoly  which 
she  labored  under,  she  will  profit  infinitely  more  than 
enough  to  repay  any  debt,  which  she  may  contract  to 
accomplish  it. 

7.  Respecting  character  in  the  honest  payment  of 
debts,  the  punctuality  with  which  America  has  dis- 
charged her  public  debts  was  shown  under  the  first 
head.  And  the  general  good  disposition  of  the  people 
to  such  punctuality  has  been  manifested  in  their  faithful 
payment  of  private  debts  to  England,  since  the  com- 
mencement of  this  war.  There  were  not  wanting 
some  politicians  (in  America),  who  proposed  stopping 
that  payment,  until  peace  should  be  restored,  alleging, 
that  in  the  usual  course  of  commerce,  and  of  the  credit 
given,  there  was  always  a  debt  existing  equal  to  the 
trade  of  eighteen  months ;  that,  the  trade  amounting  to 
five  millions  sterling  per  annum,  the  debt  must  be 
seven  millions  and  a  half;  that  this  sum  paid  to.  the 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  433 

British  merchants  would  operate  to  prevent  that  dis- 
tress, intended  to  be  brought  upon  Britain  by  our 
stoppage  of  commerce  with  her;  for  the  merchants, 
receiving  this  money,  and  no  orders  with  it  for  further 
supplies,  would  either  lay  it  out  in  public  funds,  or  in 
employing  manufacturers  to  accumulate  goods  for  a 
future  hungry  market  in  America  upon  an  expected 
accommodation,  by  which  means  the  funds  would  be 
kept  up  and  the  manufacturers  prevented  from  mur- 
muring. But  against  this  it  was  alleged,  that  injuries 
from  ministers  should  not  be  revenged  on  merchants ; 
that  the  credit  was  in  consequence  of  private  contracts 
made  in  confidence  of  good  faith ;  that  these  ought  to 
be  held  sacred  and  faithfully  complied  with ;  for  that, 
whatever  public  utility  might  be  supposed  to  arise  from 
a  breach  of  private  faith,  it  was  unjust,  and  would  in 
the  end  be  found  unwise,  honesty  being  in  truth  the 
best  policy.  On  this  principle  the  proposition  was 
universally  rejected ;  and  though  the  English  prosecuted 
the  war  with  unexampled  barbarity,  burning  our  de- 
fenceless towns  in  the  midst  of  winter,  and  arming 
savages  against  us,  the  debt  was  punctually  paid,  and 
the  merchants  of  London  have  testified  to  the  Parlia- 
ment, and  will  testify  to  all  the  world,  that  from  their 
experience  in  dealing  with  us  they  had,  before  the  wai, 
no  apprehension  of  our  unfairness,  and  that,  since  the 
war,  they  have  been  convinced  that  their  good  opinion 
of  us  was  well  founded.  England,  on  the  contrary, 
an  old,  corrupt  government,  extravagant  and  profligate 
nation,  sees  herself  deep  in  debt,  which  she  is  in  no 
condition  to  pay,  and  yet  is  madly  and  dishonestly 
running  deeper,  without  any  possibility  of  discharging 
her  debt  but  by  a  public  bankruptcy. 

It  appears,  therefore,  from  the  general  industry,  fru- 
gality, ability,  prudence,  and  virtue  of  America,  that 

VOL.  ri.  28 


434  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

she  is  a  much  safer  debtor  than  Britain  ;  to  say  nothing 
of  the  satisfaction  generous  minds  must  have  in  re- 
flecting, that  by  loans  to  America  they  are  opposing 
tyranny,  and  aiding  the  cause  of  liberty,  which  is  the 
cause  of  all  mankind. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  435 


REFLECTIONS 


AUGMENTATION  OF  WAGES, 

WHICH  WILL  BE  OCCASIONED  IN  EUROPE  BY  THE  AMERICAN 
REVOLUTION. 


I  know  not  whether  these  Reflections  have  ever  before  appeared 
in  an  English  dress.  They  are  here  presented  in  a  translation  from 
the  French,  as  published  in  CASTERA'S  edition  of  the  author's  wri- 
tings. Castera  says,  that  a  copy  was  found  among  Franklin's 
papers,  and  inserted  in  the  Journal  d' Economic  Publique,  (du  10 
VentoV:  an  V.) ;  but,  not  being  able  to  procure  that  journal,  he  trans- 
lated it  from  the  German  version  contained  in  the  Minerva,  edited 
by  Archenholz.  The  following  is  a  translation  from  Castera's  ver- 
sion ;  and,  after  having  thus  passed  through  two  languages,  the  style 
and  other  characteristics  of  the  original  must  of  course  be  essential- 
ly changed,  and  not  for  the  better.  But  the  sentiments  and  train  of 
reasoning  are  perhaps  retained  with  sufficient  accuracy,  and,  even 
in  this  imperfect  form,  it  may  be  deemed  worthy  of  the  author. 
Whether  his  views  are  not  more  ingenious  than  sound,  and  whether 
they  have  been  confirmed  by  experience,  are  at  least  questionable 
points.  The  paper  was  probably  written  in  France,  during  the 
American  Revolution,  or  immediately  after  the  peace  —  EDITOR. 


THE  independence  and  prosperity  of  the  United 
States  of  America  will  raise  the  price  of  wages  in  Eu- 
rope, an  advantage  of  which  I  believe  no  one  has  yet 
spoken. 

The  low  rate  of  wages  is  one  of  the  greatest  defects 
in  the  political  associations  of  Europe,  or  rather  of  the 
old  world. 


436  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

If  the  term  wages  be  taken  in  its  widest  signification, 
it  will  be  found  that  almost  all  the  citizens  of  a  large 
state  receive  and  pay  wages.  I  shall  confine  my  re- 
marks, however,  to  one  description  of  wages,  the  only 
one  with  which  government  should  intermeddle,  or 
which  requires  its  care.  I  mean  the  wages  of  the  low- 
est class,  those  men  without  property,  without  capital, 
who  live  solely  by  the  labor  of  their  hands.  This  is 
always  the  most  numerous  class  in  a  state ;  and,  conse- 
quently, that  community  cannot  be  pronounced  happy, 
in  which,  from  the  lowness  and  insufficiency  of  wages, 
the  laboring  class  procure  so  scanty  a  subsistence,  that, 
barely  able  to  provide  for  their  own  necessities,  they 
have  not  the  means  of  marrying  and  rearing  a  family, 
and  are  reduced  to  beggary,  whenever  employment  fails 
them,  or  age  and  sickness  oblige  them  to  give  up  work. 

Further,  the  wages  under  consideration  ought  not  to  be 
estimated  by  their  amount  in  money,  but  by  the  quantity 
of  provisions,  clothing,  and  other  commodities,  which  the 
laborer  can  procure  for  the  money  which  he  receives. 

Unhappily,  in  all  the  political  states  of  the  old  world, 
a  numerous  class  of  citizens  have  nothing  to  live  upon 
but  their  wages,  and  these  are  inadequate  to  their  sup- 
port. This  is  the  real  cause  of  the  misery  of  so  many 
day-laborers,  who  work  in  the  fields,  or  in  manufactories 
in  towns  ;  of  pauperism,  an  evil  which  is  spreading  ev- 
ery day,  more  and  more,  because  governments  attempt 
to  check  it  by  feeble  remedies  only ;  of  depravity  of 
morals ;  and  of  almost  every  crime.  The  policy  of 
tyranny  and  of  commerce  has  overlooked  and  disguised 
these  truths.  The  horrible  maxim,  that  the  people  must 
be  poor,  in  order  that  they  may  remain  in  subjection,  is 
still  held  by  many  persons  of  hard  hearts  and  perverted 
understanding,  with  whom  it  were  useless  to  contend. 
Others,  again,  think  that  the  people  should  be  poor, 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  437 

from  a  regard  for  the  supposed  interests  of  commerce. 
They  believe  that  to  increase  the  rate  of  wages  would 
raise  the  price  of  the  productions  of  the  soil,  and  espe- 
cially of  industry,  which  are  sold  to  foreign  nations,  and 
thus  that  exportation  and  the  profits  arising  from  it 
would  be  diminished.  But  this  motive  is  at  once  cruel 
and  ill-founded. 

It  is  cruel ;  for,  whatever  may  be  the  advantages  of 
foreign  commerce,  if,  in  order  to  possess  them,  half  the 
nation  must  languish  in  misery,  we  cannot  without  crime 
endeavour  to  obtain  them,  and  it  becomes  the  duty  of  a 
government  to  relinquish  them.  To  desire  to  keep 
down  the  rate  of  wages,  with  the  view  of  favoring  the 
exportation  of  merchandise,  is  to  seek  to  render  the  citi- 
zens of  a  state  miserable,  in  order  that  foreigners  may 
purchase  its  productions  at  a  cheaper  rate ;  it  is,  at 
most,  attempting  to  enrich  a  few  merchants  by  impov- 
erishing the  body  of  the  nation ;  it  is  taking  the  part  of 
the  stronger  in  that  contest,  already  so  unequal,  between 
the  man  who  can  pay  wages,  and  him  who  is  under  the 
necessity  of  receiving  them ;  it  is,  in  one  word,  to  forget, 
that  the  object  of  every  political  society  ought  to  be  the 
happiness  of  the  largest  number. 

This  motive  is,  moreover,  ill-founded ;  for,  in  order  to 
secure  to  a  nation  a  profitable  export  for  the  products  of 
its  agriculture  and  manufactures,  it  is  not  necessary  that 
the  rate  of  wages  should  be  reduced  so  extremely  low, 
as  we  find  it  in  almost  all  the  countries  of  Europe.  It 
is  not  the  wages  of  the  workman,  but  the  price  of  the 
merchandise,  that  should  be  lowered,  in  order  that  this 
merchandise  may  be  sold  to  foreign  nations.  But  men 
have  always  neglected  to  make  this  distinction.  The 
wages  of  the  laborer  are  the  price  of  his  day's  work- 
The  price  of  merchandise  is  the  sum  it  costs  to  gath- 
er the  produce  of  the  soil,  or  prepare  any  product 


438  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

of  industry.  The  price  of  this  production  may  be  very 
moderate,  while  the  laborer  may  receive  good  wages, 
that  is,  the  means  of  procuring  a  comfortable  subsist- 
ence. The  labor  necessary  to  gather  or  prepare  the  ar- 
ticle to  be  sold  may  be  cheap,  and  the  wages  of  the 
workman  good.  Although  the  workmen  of  Manchester 
and  Norwich,  and  those  of  Amiens  and  Abbeville,  are 
employed  in  the  same  kind  of  labor,  the  former  receive 
considerably  higher  wages  than  the  latter ;  and  yet  the 
woollen  fabrics  of  Manchester  and  Norwich,  of  the  same 
quality,  are  not  so  dear  as  those  of  Amiens  and  Ab- 
beville. 

It  would  occupy  too  much  time  fully  to  develope  this 
principle.  I  will  only  observe  here,  that  it  results  in  a 
great  measure  from  the  fact,  that  the  price  of  labor  in 
the  arts,  and  even  in  agriculture,  is  wonderfully  dimin- 
ished by  the  perfection  of  the  machinery  employed  in 
them,  by  the  intelligence  and  activity  of  the  workmen,  and 
by  the  judicious  division  of  labor.  Now  these  methods 
of  reducing  the  price  of  manufactured  articles  have  noth- 
ing to  do  with  the  low  wages  of  the  workman.  In  a 
large  manufactory,  where  animals  are  employed  instead 
of  men,  and  machinery  instead  of  animal  power,  and 
where  that  judicious  division  of  labor  is  made,  which 
doubles,  nay,  increases  tenfold,  both  power  and  time, 
the  article  can  be  manufactured  and  sold  at  a  much 
lower  rate,  than  in  those  establishments,  which  do  not 
enjoy  the  same  advantages ;  and  yet  the  workmen  in 
the  former  may  receive  twice  as  much  as  in  the  latter. 

It  is,  undoubtedly,  an  advantage  for  a  manufactory  to 
obtain  workmen  at  a  moderate  price;  and  excessively 
high  wages  are  an  obstacle  to  the  foundation  of  large 
manufacturing  establishments.  This  high  price  of  wa- 
ges, as  I  shall  presently  explain,  is  one  reason  for  the 
opinion  which  is  entertained,  that  it  will  be  many  years 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  439 

before  the  manufactures  of  the  United  States  of  Ameri- 
ca can  rival  those  of  Europe.  But  we  must  not  con- 
clude from  this,  that  manufactures  cannot  prosper,  un- 
less the  wages  of  the  workmen  are  reduced  as  low  as 
we  find  them  in  Europe.  And,  moreover,  the  insuffi- 
ciency of  wages  occasions  the  decline  of  a  manufactory, 
as  its  prosperity  is  promoted  by  a  high  rate  of  wages. 

High  wages  attract  the  most  skilful  and  most  indus- 
trious workmen.  Thus  the  article  is  better  made;  it 
sells  better ;  and,  in  this  way,  the  employer  makes  a 
greater  profit,  than  he  could  do  by  diminishing  the  pay 
of  the  workmen.  A  good  workman  spoils  fewer  tools, 
wastes  less  material,  and  works  faster,  than  one  of  inferior 
skill ;  and  thus  the  profits  of  the  manufacturer  are  in- 
creased still  more. 

The  perfection  of  machinery  in  all  the  arts  is  owing, 
in  a  great  degree,  to  the  workmen.  There  is  no  impor- 
tant manufacture,  in  which  they  have  not  invented 
some  useful  process,  which  saves  time  and  materials,  or 
improves  the  workmanship.  If  common  articles  of  man- 
ufacture, the  only  ones  worthy  to  interest  the  statesman, 
if  woollen,  cotton,  and  even  silk  stuffs,  articles  made  of 
iron,  steel,  copper,  skins,  leather,  and  various  other 
things,  are  generally  of  better  quality,  at  the  same  price, 
in  England  than  in  other  countries,  it  is  because  work- 
men are  there  better  paid. 

The  low  rate  of  wages,  then,  is  not  the  real  cause  of 
the  advantages  of  commerce  between  one  nation  and 
another ;  but  it  is  one  of  the  greatest  evils  of  political 
communities. 

Let  us  now  inquire  what  is  the  situation  of  the  Unit- 
ed States  in  this  respect.  The  condition  of  the  day- 
laborer,  in  these  states,  is  infinitely  better  than  in  the 
wealthiest  countries  in  the  old  world,  and  particularly 
England,  where,  however,  wages  are  higher  than  in  any 


440  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

other  part  of  Europe.  In  the  state  of  New  York,  the 
lowest  class  of  workmen  and  those  employed  in  the 
most  ordinary  kinds  of  labor  usually  gain  "three  shillings 
and  sixpence  currency,  equal  to  two  shillings  sterling,  a 
day ;  ship-carpenters,  ten  shillings  and  sixpence  curren- 
cy, with  a  pint  of  rum,  equal  in  all  to  five  shillings  and 
sixpence  sterling;  house-carpenters  and  brick-layers, 
eight  shillings  currency,  equal  to  four  shillings  and  six- 
pence sterling ;  journeymen  tailors,  five  shillings  curren- 
cy, equal  to  about  two  shillings  and  ten  pence  sterling." 

These  prices,  much  higher  than  those  of  London,  are 
quite  as  high  in  other  parts  of  the  United  States  as  in 
New  York.  I  have  taken  them  from  Adam  Smith's 
Wealth  of  Nations* 

An  intelligent  observer,  who  travelled  through  a  part 
of  the  United  States  in  1780,  gives  us  a  still  more 
favorable  idea  of  the  price  that  is  paid  there  for  work. 

"  At  Farmington,"  says  he,  "  I  saw  them  weaving  a 
kind  of  camblet,  and  also  a  blue  and  white  striped  woollen 
cloth,  for  women's  clothing.  These  fabrics  are  all  sold 
at  three  shillings  and  sixpence  per  ell,  f  in  the  currency 
of  the  country,  equal  to  about  forty-five  sous  tournois. 
The  sons  and  the  grandsons  of  the  master  of  the 

*  Book  I.  chap.  3.  This  was  written  in  the  year  1773.  The  money 
price  of  wages  has  since  that  time  risen  very  much  in  the  United  States. 
At  present  (1835)  in  Boston,  the  rate  of  wages  in  the  same  trades  if- 
about  as  follows,  viz.  common  labor  per  diem,  sixty-eight  and  §  cents 
equal  to  five  shillings  and  sixpence  of  the  New  York  currency  in  shil- 
lings and  pence ;  ship-carpenters  $2,  equal  to  sixteen  shillings  New 
York;  housewrights  $1,75,  equal  to  fourteen  shillings  New  York;  brick- 
layers $2,25,  equal  to  twenty  shillings  New  York  ;  tailors  $1,50  equal  to 
twelve  shillings  New  York.  This  is  the  rate  of  wages  for  journey- 
men in  each  of  the  above  trades.  The  rate  in  the  principal  towns  in 
the  northern  and  middle  States  generally  does  not  vary  materially  from 
that  in  Boston.  The  laborer  is  supposed  to  support  himself  at  the  above 
rate  of  wages ;  and  fortunately  the  pint  of  rum  is  not  now  so  generally  a 
part  of  his  requisite  supplies,  as  it  was  at  the  time  when  Adam  Smith 
wrote  his  work.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 

t  About  thirty-three  inches. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  441 

house  were  working  at  the  business.  One  workman 
can  easily  make  five  ells  of  this  cloth  a  day ;  and  as  the 
original  material  costs  but  a  shilling,  he  can  earn  ten  or 
twelve  shillings  by  his  day's  labor." 

But  this  fact  is  so  well  known,  that  it  i.s  superfluous 
to  attempt  to  prove  it  by  further  examples. 

The  causes  of  the  high  price  of  labor  in  our  Ameri- 
can States  must  then  continue  to  operate  more  and 
more  powerfully  ;  since  agriculture  and  population  ad- 
vance there  with  such  rapidity,  that  labor  of  every  de- 
scription is  increased  in  proportion. 

Nor  is  this  all.  The  high  rate  of  wages  paid  them  in 
money  proves,  that  they  are  even  better  than  one  would 
suppose  them  at  first  view ;  and,  in  order  to  estimate 
them  correctly,  an  important  circumstance  should  be 
known.  In  every  part  of  North  America,  the  necessa- 
ries of  life  are  cheaper  than  in  England.  Scarcity  is 
unknown  there.  In  the  least  productive  seasons,  the 
harvest  is  always  sufficient  for  the  supply  of  the  inhabit- 
ants, and  they  are  only  obliged  to  diminish  the  exporta- 
tion of  their  produce.  Now,  the  price  of  labor  in  mon- 
ey being  higher  there  than  in  England,  and  provisions 
cheaper,  the  actual  wages,  that  is,  the  amount  of  ne- 
cessary articles,  which  the  day  laborer  can  buy,  is  so 
much  the  greater. 

It  remains  for  me  to  show  how  the  high  rate  of  wages 
in  America  will  increase  their  rate  in  Europe. 

Two  distinct  causes  will  unite  in  producing  this  ef- 
fect. The  first  is  the  greater  quantity  of  labor,  that 
Europe  will  have  to  perform,  in  consequence  of  the  ex- 
istence of  another  great  nation  in  the  commercial  world, 
and  of  its  continual  increase ;  and  the  second,  the  emi- 
gration of  European  workmen,  or  the  mere  possibility  of 
their  emigrating,  in  order  to  go  to  America,  where  labor 
is  better  paid. 


442  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

It  is  certain,  that  the  amount  of  labor  in  the  vari- 
ous branches  of  agriculture,  manufactures,  commerce, 
and  navigation,  must  be  augmented  in  Europe,  by  the 
addition  of  several  millions  of  men  to  the  commercial 
world.  Now,  the  amount  of  annual  labor  being  increas- 
ed, labor  will  be  somewhat  better  paid,  and  the  rate  of 
daily  wages  received  by  the  workman  will  be  raised  by 
this  concurrence  of  circumstances.  For  example,  if 
the  additional  supply  of  one  hundred  thousand  pieces 
of  cloth,  twenty  thousand  casks  of  wine,  and  ten  thou- 
sand casks  of  brandy,  is  to  be  furnished  to  the  Amer- 
icans, not  only  will  the  persons  necessarily  employed 
in  the  production  or  manufacture  of  these  commodities 
receive  higher  wages,  but  the  price  of  all  other  kinds  ol 
labor  will  be  augmented. 

The  rate  of  wages  in  Europe  will  be  raised  by  yet 
another  circumstance,  with  which  it  is  important  to  be 
acquainted.  I  have  already  said,  that  the  value  of  wa- 
ges ought  not  to  be  estimated  solely  by  the  amount  of 
money,  nor  .even  by  the  quantity  of  subsistence,  which 
the  workman  receives  per  day,  but  also  by  the  number 
of  days  in  which  he  is  employed ;  for  it  is  by  such  a 
calculation  alone,  that  we  can  find  out  what  he  has  for 
each  day.  Is  it  not  evident,  that  he  who  should  be 
paid  at  the  rate  of  forty  pence  a  day,  and  should  fail  of 
obtaining  work  half  the  year,  would  really  have  but 
twenty  pence  to  subsist  upon,  and  that  he  would  be 
less  advantageously  situated  than  the  man,  who,  receiv- 
ing but  thirty  pence,  could  yet  be  supplied  with  work 
every  day  ?  Thus  the  Americans,  occasioning  in  Eu- 
rope an  increased  demand  and  necessity  for  labor, 
would  also  necessarily  cause  there  an  augmentation  of 
wages,  even  supposing  the  price  of  the  day's  work  to 
remain  at  the  same  rate. 

Perhaps  it  will  be  objected  to  what  I  have  said,  that 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  4-43 

this  new  nation  will  contain  within  itself  as  man}-  labor- 
ing people  as  it  can  employ  ;  and  that  thus,  adding  no- 
thing to  the  quantity  of  work  to  be  performed  in  Eu- 
rope, it  will  be  no  advantage  to  the  men  who  perform 
this  work.  But  I  reply,  that  it  is  impossible  but  that  the 
United  States  of  America,  in  their  present  condition, 
and  much  more  when  their  population  and  wealth  shall 
be  doubled,  nay,  quadrupled,  should  employ  the  labor  of 
Europeans  in  one  way  or  another.  It  is  impossible,  be- 
cause in  this  respect  the  Americans  are  not  differently 
situated  from  other  nations,  who  all  have  need  of  each 
other.  The  fertility  of  the  American  soil,  the  abun- 
dance and  variety  of  its  productions,  the  activity  and 
industry  of  its  inhabitants,  and  the  unrestricted  com- 
merce, which  will  sooner  or  later  be  established  in  Eu- 
rope in  consequence  of  the  American  Independence, 
secure  the  relations  of  America  with  other  countries ;  be- 
cause she  will  furnish  to  other  nations  such  of  her  pro- 
ductions, as  they  may  require;  and,  as  each  country 
possesses  some  productions  peculiar  to  itself,  the  de- 
mand and  advantage  will  be  reciprocal. 

The  second  cause,  which  I  have  said  must  cooperate 
in  producing  an  augmentation  of  wages  in  Europe,  is 
emigration,  or  the  mere  possibility  of  emigrating  to 
America,  where  labor  is  better  paid.  It  is  easy  to  con- 
ceive, that,  when  this  difference  is  generally  known,  it 
will  draw  to  the  United  States  many  men,  who,  having 
no  means  of  subsistence  but  their  labor,  will  flock  to 
the  place  where  this  labor  is  best  recompensed.  Since 
the  last  peace,  the  Irish  have  been  continually  emigrat- 
ing to  America.  The  reason  of  this  is,  that  in  Ireland 
wages  are  much  less  than  in  England,  and  that  the  low- 
er classes  are  consequently  great  sufferers.  Germa- 
ny has  also  furnished  new  citizens  to  the  United 
States  ;  and  all  these  laborers  must,  by  leaving  Europe, 
have  raised  the  price  of  work  for  those  who  remain. 


444  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

This  salutary  effect  will  be  produced  even  without 
emigration,  and  will  result  from  the  mere  possibility  of 
emigrating,  at  least  in  those  states  of  Europe  whose  in- 
habitants are  not  compelled  to  leave  their  own  country 
by  excessive  taxation,  bad  laws,  and  the  intolerance  of 
government. 

In  order  to  raise  the  rate  of  wages,  it  is  enough  that 
higher  can  be  obtained  in  any  place  to  which  the  work- 
man, who  depends  upon  them,  can  remove.  It  has 
been  wisely  itemarked  in  the  discussions,  which  have 
arisen  upon  the  corn  trade,  that  the  simple  liberty  of 
exporting  grain  would  keep  up  and  even  raise  its  price, 
without  the  actual  exportation  of  a  single  bushel.  The 
case  is  the  same  with  wages.  As  European  workmen 
can  so  easily  remove  to  America  to  procure  higher 
wages,  they  will  oblige  those  who  purchase  their  labor 
to  pay  them  more  for  it. 

Hence  it  follows,  that  these  two  causes  of  the  rise  of 
wages,  actual  emigration  and  the  mere  possibility  of 
emigrating,  will  concur  to  produce  the  same  effect. 
Each  acting  at  first  in  an  inconsiderable  degree,  there 
will  be  some  emigration.  Then  wages  will  be  raised, 
and  the  laborer,  finding  his  gains  increase,  will  no  longer 
have  a  sufficiently  powerful  motive  to  emigrate. 

But  the  rise  of  wages  will  not  be  equally  felt  by  the 
different  nations  of  Europe.  It  will  be  more  or  less 
considerable,  in  proportion  to  the  greater  or  less  facili- 
ties for  emigration,  which  each  affords.  England,  whose 
manners,  language,  and  religion  are  the  same  with  those 
of  America,  must  naturally  enjoy  this  advantage  in  a 
higher  degree  than  any  other  European  state.  We 
may  assert,  that  she  already  owes  much  to  America;  for 
her  relations  with  that  country,  the  market  which  she 
has  found  there  for  her  merchandise,  and  which  has 
raised  the  wages  of  the  day-laborers  employed  in  her 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  445 

agriculture  and  manufactures,  are  among  the  principal 
causes  of  her  wealth,  and  of  the  political  influence  we 
find  her  exerting. 

But,  to  say  nothing  of  other  advantages,  which  may 
ultimately  accrue  from  the  rise  of  wages,  this  augmen- 
tation has  already  produced  one  most  valuable  result 
in  England.  It  has  ameliorated  the  condition  of  that 
class  of  men,  who  live  by  the  labor  of  their  hands 
alone,  that  is,  the  most  numerous  portion  of  society. 
This  class,  elsewhere  reduced  to  the  most  scanty  sub- 
sistence, are  much  better  off  in  England.  They  there 
obtain  by  their  labor  the  necessaries  of  life  in  greater 
abundance  than  in  many  other  parts  of  Europe;  and 
there  can  be  no  doubt,  that  this  springs  from  the  influ- 
ence of  American  commerce  on  the  rate  of  wages. 

I  know  it  may  be  said,  that,  notwithstanding  the 
increase  of  labor  and  of  subsistence  in  Europe,  and 
notwithstanding  the  emigration  which  may  take  place, 
the  same  causes  which  we  have  mentioned,  and  which 
have  reduced  wages  so  low,  will  continue  to  operate, 
because  they  are  inherent  in  the  constitutions  of  Euro- 
pean states,  whose  defects  will  not  be  remedied  by  the 
liberty  and  prosperity  of  America.  Perhaps  it  may  be 
said,  also,  that  the  number  of  proprietors  and  capital- 
ists, a  number  very  small  compared  with  that  of  the 
men,  who,  having  no  landed  property  nor  capital,  are  com- 
pelled to  live  upon  wages,  will  remain  the  same,  because 
the  causes  which  accumulate  landed  property  and  capital 
in  their  hands  will  not  change,  and  consequently  that  they 
will  reduce,  or  rather  keep  wages  very  low.  Finally,  it 
may  be  said,  that  the  tvrannv  of  the  feudal  laws,  the 
mode  of  taxation,  the  excessive  increase  of  the  public 
revenue,  and  the  laws  of  commerce,  will  always  pro- 
duce the  same  effect  of  diminishing  wages,  and  that, 


446  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

should  Europe  derive  any  real  advantage,  in  this  re- 
spect, from  American  independence,  it  would  not  be 
permanent. 

To  these  suggestions,  many  things  may  be  said  in 
reply.  I  will  observe,  in  the  first  place,  that,  if  the 
governments  of  Europe  endeavour  to  counteract  the 
salutary  effects,  which  the  independence  of  America 
would  naturally  produce  in  respect  to  them,  it  is  not 
the  less  interesting  to  endeavour  to  ascertain  what 
these  effects  would  be.  Better  days  may  come,  when, 
the  true  principles  of  the  happiness  of  nations  being 
better  understood,  there  will  be  some  sovereign  suffi- 
ciently enlightened  and  just  to  put  them  in  operation. 
The  causes,  which  tend  continually  to  accumulate  and 
concentrate  landed  property  and  wealth  in  a  few  hands, 
may  be  diminished.  The  remains  of  the  feudal  system 
may  be  abolished,  or,  at  least,  rendered  less  oppressive. 
The  mode  of  taxation  may  be  changed,  and  its  excess 
moderated.  And,  lastly,  bad  commercial  regulations 
may  be  amended.  The  tendency  of  all  these  improve- 
ments will  be,  to  enable  the  working  classes  to  profit 
by  the  favorable  change,  which  the  American  Revolu- 
tion must  naturally  produce. 

But,  admitting  that  all  the  causes,  which  have  just 
been  mentioned,  should  concur  to  keep  the  wages, 
which  the  day-laborer  receives  for  his  work  in  Europe, 
at  a  low  rate,  they  could,  however,  only  weaken  the 
influence  exerted  by  the  prosperity  of  America,  and 
not  wholly  destroy  it.  If  every  thing  else  remained  in 
the  same  state,  there  would  still  be  a  greater  consump- 
tion, and  consequently  more  labor  to  be  performed. 
Now,  this  consumption  and  labor  continually  increasing 
in  the  same  ratio  with  the  increase  of  population  and 
wealth  in  the  New  World,  an  augmentation  of  wages 
in  Europe  will  be  the  necessary  result;  for  the  coun- 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  447 

teracting  causes  will  not  operate  more  powerfully  than 
they  now  do.* 

*  The  suggestion  in  this  essay,  that  the  capacity  of  a  nation  for  cheap 
production  is  not  dependent  solely  upon  the  lowness  of  wages,  is  very 
just,  indeed  quite  obvious,  and  yet  it  is  not  usually  so  satisfactorily  pre- 
sented in  works  on  political  economy,  as  it  is  above.  Those  works 
are  apt  to  lead  the  reader  into  a  misapprehension  on  this  subject,  by 
assigning  to  the  money  rate  of  wages  too  predominant  an  influence  on 
the  money  price  of  products  That  it  is  not  decisive  in  this  respect  is 
demonstrated  in  the  example  put  in  the  text,  namely,  that  of  England, 
where  wages  are  higher  than  in  any  other  European  country ;  and  yet 
England  maintains  a  successful  competition  in  the  foreign  markets  with 
other  nations,  and  not  only  with  those  where  labor  is  cheaper,  but  also 
with  those  where  interest  is  usually  lower,  for  instance,  Holland.  These 
are  disadvantages  under  which  England,  and  still  more  the  United  States, 
labor  in  competition  with  the  Dutch  in  her  foreign  markets,  and  also  the 
home  markets,  provided  all  goods,  both  foreign  and  domestic,  are  admitted 
into  the  home  market  upon  the  same  footing  without  discrimination. 

How  are  these  disadvantages  to  be  compensated  ?  It  may  be  by  some 
or  all  of  the  following  advantages,  viz.  1.  By  low  rents  and  cheap  mate- 
rials. 2.  By  plenty  and  cheapness  of  fuel.  3.  By  facility  of  inland  trans- 
portation. 4.  By  a  good  geographical  position  for  marine  transportation. 
5.  By  a  good  mercantile  marine.  6.  By  commercial  advantages  secured 
by  treaties  and  conventions  with  foreign  nations.  7.  By  superior  intelli- 
gence and  skill  of  operatives.  8.  By  improvements  in  machinery  and 
more  perfect  implements.  9.  By  more  intense  industry,  rendering  a 
day's  labor  more  effective  independently  of  any  superiority  of  skill  or 
implements.  10.  By  superior  sagacity,  activity,  and  enterprise  on  the 
part  of  the  undertakers  and  conductors  of  the  national  industry.  11.  By 
the  greater  enterprise,  skill,  and  activity  of  the  merchants.  In  comparing 
the  condition  of  different  nations  as  competitors  in  commerce,  these 
causes  ought  all  to  be  kept  in  view,  no  less  than  the  money  rate  of 
wages  and  the  rate  of  interest ;  and  so  presented,  that  a  just  weight  may 
be  assigned  to  each. 

In  regard  to  the  influence  of  the  growth  of  the  United  States  upon  the 
rate  of  wages  in  Europe,  Franklin's  argument  supposes,  that  the  in- 
crease of  employment  for  European  laborers  will  be  greater  in  propor- 
tion to  the  increase  of  the  laborers  themselves,  than  if  the  country  were 
stationary.  The  proposition  is  probably  true,  but  not  so  obviously  so,  that 
it  can  be  taken  for  granted.  The  essay  would  have  been  clearer  and 
more  satisfactory,  had  this  question  been  treated.  —  W.  PHILLIPS. 


448  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 


ON  LUXURY,  IDLENESS,  AND  INDUSTRY.* 

IT  is  wonderful  how  preposterously  the  affairs  of 
this  world  are  managed.  Naturally  one  would  im- 
agine, that  the  interest  of  a  few  individuals  should 
give  way  to  general  interest ;  but  individuals  manage 
their  affairs  with  so  much  more  application,  industry, 
and  address,  than  the  public  do  theirs,  that  general 
interest  most  commonly  gives  way  to  particular.  We 
assemble  parliaments  and  councils,  to  have  the  benefit 
of  their  collected  wisdom  ;  but  we  necessarily  have, 
at  the  same  time,  the  inconvenience  of  their  collected 
passions,  prejudices,  and  private  interests.  By  the 
help  of  these,  artful  men  overpower  their  wisdom,  and 
dupe  its  possessors  ;  and  if  we  may  judge  by  the  acts, 
arrets,  and  edicts,  all  the  world  over,  for  regulating 
commerce,  an  assembly  of  great  men  is  the  greatest 
fool  upon  earth. 

I  have  not  yet,  indeed,  thought  of  a  remedy  for 
luxury.  I  am  not  sure,  that  in  a  great  state  it  is 
capable  of  a  remedy,  nor  that  the  evil  is  in  itself 
always  so  great  as  it  is  represented.  Suppose  we 
include  in  the  definition  of  luxury  all  unnecessary  ex- 
pense, and  then  let  us  consider  whether  laws  to  pre- 
vent such  expense  are  possible  to  be  executed  in  a 
great  country,  and  whether,  if  they  could  be  executed, 
our  people  generally  would  be  happier,  or  even  richer. 
Is  not  the  hope  of  being  one  day  able  to  purchase 
and  enjoy  luxuries  a  great  spur  to  labor  and  indus- 
try? May  not  luxury,  therefore,  produce  more  than 
it  consumes,  if  without  such  a  spur  people  would  be, 

*  From  a  letter  to  Mr.  Benjamin  Vaughan,  dated  at  Passy,  July  ^Gtii, 
1784. 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  449 

as  they  are  naturally  enough  inclined  to  be,  lazy  and 
indolent  ?  To  this  purpose  I  remember  a  circumstance. 
The  skipper  of  a  shallop,  employed  between  Cape 
May  and  Philadelphia,  had  done  us  some  small  service, 
for  which  he  refused  to  be  paid.  My  wife,  under- 
standing that  he  had  a  daughter,  sent  her  a  present 
of  a  new-fashioned  cap.  Three  years  after,  this  skip- 
per being  at  my  house  with  an  old  farmer  of  Cape 
May,  his  passenger,  he  mentioned  the  cap,  and  how 
much  his  daughter  had  been  pleased  with  it.  "  But," 
said  he,  "it  proved  a  dear  cap  to  our  congregation." 
"  How  so  1 "  "  When  my  daughter  appeared  with  it 
at  meeting,  it  was  so  much  admired,  that  all  the  girls 
resolved  to  get  such  caps  from  Philadelphia ;  and  my 
wife  and  I  computed,  that  the  whole  could  not  have 
cost  less  than  a  hundred  pounds."  "True,"  said  the 
farmer,  "  but  you  do  not  tell  all  the  story.  I  think  the 
cap  was  nevertheless  an  advantage  to  us,  for  it  was  the 
first  thing  that  put  our  girls  upon  knitting  worsted  mit- 
;ens  for  sale  at  Philadelphia,  that  they  might  have  where- 
withal to  buy  caps  and  ribbons  there ;  and  you  know 
that  that  industry  has  continued,  and  is  likely  to  con- 
tinue and  increase  to  a  much  greater  value,  and  an- 
swer better  purposes."  Upon  the  whole,  I  was  more 
reconciled  to  this  little  piece  of  luxury,  since  not  only 
the  girls  were  made  happier  by  having  fine  caps,  but 
the  Philadelphians  by  the  supply  of  warm  mittens. 

In  our  commercial  towns  upon  the  seacoast,  fortunes- 
will  occasionally  be  made.  Some  of  those  who  grow 
rich  will  be  prudent,  live  within  bounds,  and  preserve 
what  they  have  gained  for  their  posterity  ;  others,  fond 
of  showing  their  wealth,  will  be  extravagant  and  ruin 
themselves.  Laws  cannot  prevent  this ;  and  perhaps 
it  is  not  always  an  evil  to  the  public.  A  shilling  spent 
idly  by  a  fool,  may  be  picked  up  by  a  wiser  person. 

VOL.  ii.  29 


450  FRANKLIN'S    \v  R  I  T  I  N  G  S  . 

who  knows  better  what  to  do  with  it.  It  is  therefore 
not  lost.  A  vain,  silly  fellow  builds  a  fine  house,  fur- 
nishes it  richly,  lives  in  it  expensively,  and  in  few  years 
ruins  himself;  but  the  masons,  carpenters,  smiths,  and 
other  honest  tradesmen  have  been  by  his  employ 
assisted  in  maintaining  and  raising  their  families  ;  the 
farmer  has  been  paid  for  his  labor,  and  encouraged, 
and  the  estate  is  now  in  better  hands.  In  some  cases, 
indeed,  certain  modes  of  luxury  may  be  a  public  evil, 
in  the  same  manner  as  it  is  a  private  one.  If  there 
be  a  nation,  for  instance,  that  exports  its  beef  and 
linen,  to  pay  for  the  importation  of  claret  and  porter, 
while  a  great  part  of  its  people  live  upon  potatoes, 
and  wear  no  shirts,  wherein  does  it  differ  from  the 
sot,  who  lets  his  family  starve,  and  sells  his  clothes  to 
buy  drink  ?  Our  American  commerce  is,  I  confess,  a 
little  in  this  way.  We  sell  our  victuals  to  the  Islands 
for  rum  and  sugar;  the  substantial  necessaries  of  life 
for  superfluities.  But  we  have  plenty,  and  live  well 
nevertheless,  though,  by  being  soberer,  we  might  be 
richer. 

The  vast  quantity  of  forest  land  we  have  yet  to 
clear,  and  put  in  order  for  cultivation,  will  for  a  long 
time  keep  the  body  of  our  nation  laborious  and  frugal. 
Forming  an  opinion  of  our  people  and  their  manners 
by  what  is  seen  among  the  inhabitants  of  the  seaports, 
is  judging  from  an  improper  sample.  The  people  of  the 
trading  towns  may  be  rich  and  luxurious,  while  the 
country  possesses  all  the  virtues,  that  tend  to  promote 
happiness  and  public  prosperity.  Those  towns  are 
not  much  regarded  by  the  country  ;  they  are  hardly 
considered  as  an  essential  part  of  the  States ;  and  the 
experience  of  the  last  war  has  shown,  that  their  being 
in  the  possession  of  the  enemy  did  not  necessarily 
draw  on  the  subjection  of  the  country,  which  bravely 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  451 

continued  to  maintain  its  freedom  and  independence 
notwithstanding. 

It  has  been  computed  by  some  political  arithmetician, 
that,  if  every  man  and  woman  would  work  for  four 
hours  each  day  on  something  useful,  that  labor  would 
produce  sufficient  to  procure  all  the  necessaries  and 
comforts  of  life,  want  and  misery  would  be  banished 
out  of  the  world,  and  the  rest  of  the  twenty-four  hours 
might  be  leisure  and  pleasure. 

What  occasions  then  so  much  want  and  misery  1  It 
is  the  employment  of  men  and  women  in  works,  that 
produce  neither  the  necessaries  nor  conveniences  of 
life,  who,  with  those  who  do  nothing,  consume  neces- 
saries raised  by  the  laborious.  To  explain  this. 

The  first  elements  of  wealth  are  obtained  by  labor, 
from  the  earth  and  waters.  I  have  land,  and  raise 
corn.  With  this,  if  I  feed  a  family  that  does  nothing, 
my  corn  will  be  consumed,  and  at  the  end  of  the  year 
I  shall  be  no  richer  than  I  was  at  the  beginning.  But 
if,  while  I  feed  them,  I  employ  them,  some  in  spinning, 
others  in  making  bricks,  &,c.  for  building,  the  value  of 
my  corn  will  be  arrested  and  remain  with  me,  and  at 
the  end  of  the  year  we  may  all  be  better  clothed 
and  better  lodged.  And  if,  instead  of  employing  a 
man  I  feed  in  making  bricks,  I  empkfy  him  in  fiddling 
for  me,  the  corn  he  eats  is  gone,  and  no  part  of  his 
manufacture  remains  to  augment  the  wealth  and  con- 
venience of  the  family ;  I  shall  therefore  be  the  poorer 
for  this  fiddling  man,  unless  the  rest  of  my  family  work 
more,  or  eat  less,  to  make  up  the  deficiency  he  occa- 
sions. 

Look  round  the  world  and  see  the  millions  employ- 
ed in  doing  nothing,  or  in  something  that  amounts  to 
nothing,  when  the  necessaries  and  conveniences  of  life 
are  in  question.  What  is  the  bulk  of  commerce,  for 


452  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

which  we  fight  and  destroy  each  other,  but  the  toil  of 
millions  for  superfluities,  to  the  great  hazard  and  loss 
of  many  lives  by  the  constant  dangers  of  the  sea  1 
How  much  labor  is  spent  in  building  and  fitting  great 
ships,  to  go  to  China  and  Arabia  for  tea  and  coffee, 
to  the  West  Indies  for  sugar,  to  America  for  tobacco  ? 
These  things  cannot  be  called  the  necessaries  of  life, 
for  our  ancestors  lived  very  comfortably  without  them. 

A  question  may  be  asked;  Could  all  these  people, 
now  employed  in  raising,  making,  or  carrying  super- 
fluities, be  subsisted  by  raising  necessaries  ?  I  think 
they  might.  The  world  is  large,  and  a  great  part  of 
it  still  uncultivated.  Many  hundred  millions  of  acres 
in  Asia,  Africa,  and  America  are  still  in  a  forest,  and 
a  great  deal  even  in  Europe.  On  a  hundred  acres  of 
this  forest  a  man  might  become  a  substantial  farmer, 
and  a  hundred  thousand  men,  employed  in  clearing 
each  his  hundred  acres,  would  hardly  brighten  a  spot 
big  enough  to  be  visible  from  the  moon,  unless  with 
Herschel's  telescope;  so  vast  are  the  regions  still  in 
wood. 

It  is,  however,  some  comfort  to  reflect,  that,  upon  the 
whole,  the  quantity  of  industry  and  prudence  among 
mankind  exceeds  the  quantity  of  idleness  and  folly. 
Hence  the  increas%  of  good  buildings,  farms  cultivated, 
and  populous  cities  filled  with  wealth,  all  over  Europe, 
which  a  few  ages  since  were  only  to  be  found  on  the 
coast  of  the  Mediterranean ;  and  this,  notwithstanding 
the  mad  wars  continually  raging,  by  which  are  often 
destroyed  in  one  year  the  works  of  many  years'  peace. 
So  that  we  may  hope  the  luxury  of  a  few  merchants 
on  the  coast  will  not  be  the  ruin  of  America. 

One  reflection  more,  and  I  will  end  this  long,  ram- 
bling letter.  Almost  all  the  parts  of  our  bodies  require 
some  expense. .  The  feet  demand  shoes ;  the  legs, 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  453 

stockings ;  the  rest  of  the  body,  clothing ;  and  the 
belly,  a  good  deal  of  victuals.  Our  eyes,  though  ex- 
ceedingly useful,  ask,  when  reasonable,  only  the  cheap 
assistance  of  spectacles,  which  could  not  much  impair 
our  finances.  But  the  eyes  of  other  people  are  the 
eyes  that  ruin  us.  If  all  but  myself  were  blind,  I 
should  want  neither  fine  clothes,  fine  houses,  nor  fine 
furniture. 


REMARKS 

CONCERNING  THE  SAVAGES  OF  NORTH  AMERICA.* 

SAVAGES  we  call  them,  because  their  manners  differ 
from  ours,  which  we  think  the  perfection  of  civility ;  they 
think  the  same  of  theirs. 

Perhaps,  if  we  could  examine  the  manners  of  different 
nations  with  impartiality,  we  should  find  no  people  so 
rude,  as  to  be  without  any  rulej  of  politeness ;  nor  any 
so  polite,  as  not  to  have  some  remains  of  rudeness. 

The  Indian  men,  when  young,  are  hunters  and  war- 
riors ;  when  old,  counsellors ;  for  all  their  government  is 
by  the  counsel  or  advice  of  the  sages ;  there  is  no  force, 
there  are  no  prisons,  no  officers  to  compel  obedience,  or 
inflict  punishment.  Hence  they  generally  study- oratory, 
the  best  speaker  having  the  most  influence.  The  Indian 
women  till  the  ground,  dress  the  food,  nurse  and  bring 
up  the  children,  and  preserve  and  hand  down  to  posterity 
the  memory  of  public  transactions.  These  employments 
of  men  and  women  are  accounted  natural  and  honorable. 
Having  few  artificial  wants,  they  have  abundance  of 

*  T.his  paper  and  the  two  next  in  order  were  published  in  separate  pam- 
phlets in  England,  in  the  year  1784;  and  afterwards,  in  1787,  they  formed  a 
part  of  our  author's  papers  printed  for  Dilly.  —  Editor  of  Johnson  Sf  Long- 
man's Edition. 


454  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

leisure  lor  improvement  by  conversation.  Our  laborious 
manner  of  life,  compared  with  theirs,  they  esteem  slavish 
and  base;  and  the  learning,  on  which  we  value  ourselves, 
they  regard  as  frivolous  and  useless.  An  instance  of  this 
occurred  at  the  treaty  of  Lancaster,  in  Pennsylvania,  anno 
1 744,  between  the  government  of  Virginia  and  the  Six- 
Nations.  After  the  principal  business  was  settled,  the 
commissioners  from  Virginia  acquainted  the  Indians  by 
a  speech,  that  there  was  at  Williamsburg  a  college,  with 
a  fund  for  educating  Indian  youth ;  and  that,  if  the  chiefs 
of  the  Six  Nations  would  send  down  half  a  dozen  of  their 
sons  to  that  college,  the  government  would  take  care  that 
they  should  be  well  provided  for,  and  instructed  in  all  the 
learning  of  the  white  people.  It  is  one  of  the  Indian  rules 
of  politeness  not  to  answer  a  public  proposition  the  same 
day  that  it  is  made ;  they  think  it  would  be  treating  it  as 
a  light  matter,  and  that  they  show  it  respect  by  taking 
time  to  consider  it,  as  of  a  matter  important.  They  there- 
fore deferred  their  answer  till  the  day  following ;  when 
their  speaker  began,  by  expressing  their  deep  sense  of 
the  kindness  of  the  Virginia  government,  in  making  them 
that  offer;  "for  we  know,"  says  he,  "that  you  highly  es- 
teem the  kind  of  learning  taught  in  those  colleges,  and 
that  the  maintenance  of  our  young  men,  while  with  you, 
would  be  very  expensive  to  you.  We  are  convinced, 
therefore,  that  you  mean  to  do  us  good  by  your  proposal ; 
and  we  thank  you  heartily.  But  you,  who  are  wise, 
must  know  that  different  nations  have  different  con- 
ceptions of  things;  arid  you  will  therefore  not  take  it 
amiss,  if  our  ideas  of  this  kind  of  education  happen  not 
to  be  the  same  with  yours.  We  have  had  some  expe- 
rience of  it ;  several  of  our  young  people  were  formerly 
brought  up  at  the  colleges  of  the  northern  provinces ; 
they  were  instructed  in  all  your  sciences;  but,  when 
they  came  back  to  us,  they  were  bad  runners,  ignorant 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  455 

of  every  means  of  living  in  the  woods,  unable  to  bear 
either  cold  or  hunger,  knew  neither  how  to  build  a 
cabin,  take  a  deer,  nor  kill  an  enemy,  spoke  our  lan- 
guage imperfectly,  were  therefore  neither  fit  for  hunters, 
warriors,  nor  counsellors;  they  were  totally  good  for 
nothing.  We  are  however  not  the  less  obliged  by  your 
kind  offer,  though  we  decline  accepting  it;  and,  to 
show  our  grateful  sense  of  it,  if  the  gentlemen  of  Vir- 
ginia will  send  us  a  dozen  of  their  sons,  we  will  take 
great  care  of  their  education,  instruct  them  in  all  we 
know,  and  make  men  of  them." 

Having  frequent  occasions  to  hold  public  councils,  they 
have  acquired  great  order  and  decency  in  conducting 
them.  The  old  men  sit  in  the  foremost  ranks,  the  war- 
riors in  the  next,  and  the  women  and  children  in  the 
hindmost.  The  business  of  the  women  is  to  take  exact 
notice  of  what  passes,  imprint  it  in  their  memories  (for 
they  have  no  writing),  and  communicate  it  to  their  chil- 
dren. They  are  the  records  of  the  council,  and  they 
preserve  the  tradition  of  the  stipulations  in  treaties  a 
hundred  years  back ;  which,  when  we  compare  with  our 
writings,  we  always  find  exact.  He  that  would  speak, 
rises.  The  rest  observe  a  profound  silence.  When  he 
has  finished  and  sits  down,  they  leave  him  five  or  six 
minutes  to  recollect,  that,  if  he  has  omitted  any  thing 
he  intended  to  say,  or  has  any  thing  to  add,  he  may 
rise  again  and  deliver  it.  To  interrupt  another,  even 
in  common  conversation,  is  reckoned  highly  indecent. 
How  different  this  is  from  the  conduct  of  a  polite  Bri- 
tish House  of  Commons,  where  scarce  a  day  passes 
without  some  confusion,  that  makes  the  speaker  hoarse 
in  calling  to  order ;  and  how  different  from  the  mode 
of  conversation  in  many  polite  companies  of  Europe, 
where,  if  you  do  not  deliver  your  sentence  with  great 
"apidity,  you  are  cut  off  in  the  middle  of  it  by  tlif 


456  FRANKLIN'S     WRITINGS. 

impatient  loquacity  of  those  you  converse  with,  and 
never  suffered  to  finish  it ! 

The  politeness  of  these  savages  in  conversation  is 
indeed  carried  to  excess,  since  it  does  not  permit  them 
to  contradict  or  deny  the  truth  of  what  is  asserted  in 
their  presence.  By  this  means  they  indeed  avoid  dis- 
putes; but  then  it  becomes  difficult  to  know  their  minds, 
or  what  impression  you  make  upon  them.  The  mis- 
sionaries who  have  attempted  to  convert  them  to  Chris- 
tianity, all  complain  of  this  as  one  of  the  great  difficul- 
ties of  their  mission.  The  Indians  hear  with  patience 
the  truths  of  the  Gospel  explained  to  them,  and  give 
their  usual  tokens  of  assent  and  approbation  ;  you  would 
think  they  were  convinced.  No  such  matter.  It  is 
mere  civility. 

A  Swedish  minister,  having  assembled  the  chiefs  of 
the  Susquehanna  Indians,  made  a  sermon  to  them, 
acquainting  them  with  the  principal  historical  facts  on 
which  our  religion  is  founded ;  such  as  the  fall  of  our 
first  parents  by  eating  an  apple,  the  coming  of  Christ 
to  repair  the  mischief,  his  miracles  and  suffering,  &c. 
When  he  had  finished,  an  Indian  orator  stood  up  to 
thank  him.  "  What  you  have  told  us,"  says  he,  "  is  all 
very  good.  It  is  indeed  bad  to  eat  apples.  It  is  better 
to  make  them  all  into  cider.  We  are  much  obliged  by 
your  kindness  in  coming  so  far,  to  tell  us  those  things 
which  you  have  heard  from  your  mothers.  In  return, 
I  will  tell  you  some  of  those  we  have  heard  from  ours. 
"  In  the  beginning,  our  lathers  had  only  the  flesh  of 
animals  to  subsist  on ;  and,  if  their  hunting  was  unsuc- 
cessful, they  were  starving.  Two  of  our  young  hunters, 
having  killed  a  deer,  made  a  fire  in  the  woods  to  broil 
some  parts  of  it.  When  they  were  about  to  satisfy 
their  hunger,  they  beheld  a  beautiful  young  woman 
descend  from  the  clouds,  and  seat  herself  on  that  hill, 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  457 

\vhich  you  see  yonder  among  the  Blue  Mountains. 
They  said  to  each  other,  it  is  a  spirit  that  perhaps  has 
smelt  our  broiling  venison,  and  wishes  to  eat  of  it ;  let 
us  offer  some  to  her.  They  presented  her  with  the 
tongue ;  she  was  pleased  with  the  taste  of  it,  and  said, 
'Your  kindness  shall  be  rewarded;  come  to  this  place 
after  thirteen  moons,  and  you  shall  find  something  that 
will  be  of  great  benefit  in  nourishing  you  and  your 
children  to  the  latest  generations.'  They  did  so,  and, 
to  their  surprise,  found  plants  they  had  never  seen  be- 
fore ;  but  which,  from  that  ancient  time,  have  been  con- 
stantly cultivated  among  us,  to  our  great  advantage. 
Where  her  right  hand  had  touched  the  ground,  they 
found  maize ;  where  her  left  hand  had  touched  it,  they 
found  kidney-beans ;  and  where  her  backside  had  sat 
on  it,  they  found  tobacco."  The  good  missionary, 
disgusted  with  this  idle  tale,  said,  "  What  I  delivered  to 
you  were  sacred  truths ;  but  what  you  tell  me  is  mere 
fable,  fiction,  and  falsehood."  The  Indian,  offended, 
replied,  "  My  brother,  it  seems  your  friends  have  not 
done  you  justice  in  your  education ;  they  have  not  well 
instructed  you  in  the  rules  of  common  civility.  You 
saw  that  we,  who  understand  and  practise  those  rules, 
believed  all  your  stories ;  why  do  you  refuse  to  believe 
ours?" 

When  any  of  them  come  into  our  towns,  our  people 
are  apt  to  crowd  round  them,  gaze  upon  them,  and 
incommode  them,  where  they  desire  to  be  private ;  this 
they  esteem  great  rudeness,  and  the  effect  of  the  want 
of  instruction  in  the  rules  of  civility  and  good  manners. 
"  We  have,"  say  they,  "  as  much  curiosity  as  you,  and 
when  you  come  into  our  towns,  we  wish  for  opportu- 
nities of  looking  at  you ;  but  for  this  purpose  we  hide 
ourselves  behind  bushes,  where  you  are  to  pass,  and 
never  intrude  ourselves  into  your  company." 


45.8  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

Their  manner  of  entering  one  another's  village  has 
likewise  its  rules.  It  is  reckoned  uncivil  in  travelling 
strangers  to  enter  a  village  abruptly,  without  giving  no- 
tice of  their  approach.  Therefore,  as  soon  as  they  arrive 
within  hearing,  they  stop  and  hollow,  remaining  there  till 
invited  to  enter.  Two  old  men  usually  come  out  to 
them,  and  lead  them  in.  There  is  in  every  village  a 
vacant  dwelling,  called  the  strangers'  house.  Here 
they  are  placed,  while  the  old  men  go  round  from  hut 
to  hut,  acquainting  the  inhabitants,  that  strangers  are 
arrived,  who  are  probably  hungry  and  weary ;  and  every 
one  sends  them  what  he  can  spare  of  victuals,  and 
skins  to  repose  on.  When  the  strangers  are  refreshed, 
pipes  and  tobacco  are  brought;  and  then,  but  not  be- 
fore, conversation  begins,  with  inquiries  who  they  are, 
whither  bound,  what  news,  &c. ;  and  it  usually  ends 
with  offers  of  service,  if  the  strangers  have  occasion 
for  guides,  or  any  necessaries  for  continuing  their  jour- 
ney; and  nothing  is  exacted  for  the  entertainment. 

The  same  hospitality,  esteemed  among  them  as  a 
principal  virtue,  is  practised  bv  private  persons ;  of 
which  Conrad  Weiser,  our  interpreter,  gave  me  the 
following  instance.  He  had  been  naturalized  among 
the  Six  Nations,  and  spoke  well  the  Mohock  language. 
In  going  through  the  Indian  country,  to  carry  a  mes- 
sage from  our  governor  to  the  council  at  Onondaga, 
he  called  at  the  habitation  of  Canassetego,  an  old  ac- 
quaintance, who  embraced  him,  spread  furs  for  him  to 
sit  on,  and  placed  before  him  some  boiled  beans  and 
venison,  and  mixed  some  rum  and  water  for  his  drink. 
When  he  was  well  refreshed,  and  had  lit  his  pipe, 
Canassetego  began  to  converse  with  him;  asked  how 
he  had  fared  the  many  years  since  they  had  seen  each 
other;  whence  he  then  came;  what  occasioned  the 
journey,  &c.  Conrad  answered  all  his  questions ;  and 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  459 

when  the  discourse  began  to  flag,  the  Indian,  to  con- 
tinue it,  said,  "  Conrad,  you  have  lived  long  among  the 
white  people,  and  know  something  of  their  customs ;  I 
have  been  sometimes  at  Albany,  and  have  observed, 
that  once  in  seven  days  the)  shut  up  their  shops,  and 
assemble  all  in  the  great  house;  tell  me  what  it  is  for? 
What  do  they  do  there  ? "  "  They  meet  there,"  says 
Conrad,  "  to  hear  and  learn  good  things"  " I  do  not 
doubt,"  says  the  Indian,  "that  ihey  tell  you  so;  they 
have  told  me  the  same ;  but  I  doubt  the  truth  of  what 
they  say,  and  I  will  tell  you  my  reasons.  I  went  latelv 
to  Albany  to  sell  my  skins  and  buy  blankets,  knives, 
powder,  rum,  &c.  You  know  I  used  generally  to  deal 
with  Hans  Hanson ;  but  I  was  a  little  inclined  this  time 
to  try  some  other  merchants.  However,  I  called  first 
upon  Hans,  and  asked  him  what  he  would  give  for 
beaver.  He  said  he  could  not  give  any  more  than  four 
shillings  a  pound;  'but,'  says  he,  'I  cannot  talk  on  busi- 
ness now ;  this  is  the  day  when  we  meet  together  to 
learn  good  things,  and  I  am  going  to  meeting.'  So  I 
thought  to  myself,  'Since  I  cannot  do  any  business  to- 
day, I  may  as  well  go  to  the  meeting  too,'  and  I  went 
with  him.  There  stood  up  a  man  in  black,  and  began 
to  talk  to  the  people  very  angrily.  I  did  not  understand 
what  he  said ;  but,  perceiving  that  he  looked  much  at 
me  and  at  Hanson,  I  imagined  he  was  angry  at  seeing 
me  there;  so  I  went  out,  sat  down  near  the  house, 
struck  fire,  and  lit  my  pipe,  waiting  till  the  meeting 
should  break  up.  I  thought  too,  that  the  man  had 
mentioned  something  of  beaver,  and  I  suspected  it 
might  be  the  subject  of  their  meeting.  So,  when  they 
cane  out,  I  accosted  my  merchant.  '  Well,  Hans,'  says 
I,  « I  hope  -you  have  agreed  to  give  more  than  four  shil- 
lings a  pound.'  'No,'  says  he,  'I  cannot  give  so  much; 
I  cannot  give  more  than  three  shillings  and  sixpence.' 


460  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

I  then  spoke  to  several  other  dealers,  but  they  all  sung 
the  same  song, — three  and  sixpence, — three  and  six- 
pence. This  made  it  clear  to  me,  that  my  suspicion 
was  right;  and,  that  whatever  they  pretended  of  meet- 
ing to  learn  good  things,  the  real  purpose  was  to  con- 
sult how  to  cheat  Indians  in  the  price  of  beaver. 
Consider  but  a  little,  Conrad,  and  you  must  be  of  my 
opinion.  If  they  met  so  often  to  learn  good  things, 
they  would  certainly  have  learned  some  before  this  time. 
But  they  are  still  ignorant.  You  know  our  practice. 
If  a  white  man,  in  travelling  through  our  country,  en- 
ters one  of  our  cabins,  we  all  treat  him  as  I  do  you ; 
we  dry  him  if  he  is  wet,  we  warm  him  if  he  is  cold, 
and  give  him  meat  and  drink,  that  he  may  allay  his 
thirst  and  hunger;  and  we  spread  soft  furs  for  him  to 
rest  and  sleep  on ;  we  demand  nothing  in  return.  But, 
if  I  go  into  a  white  man's  house  at  Albany,  and  ask 
for  victuals  and  drink,  they  say,  'Where  is  your  money?' 
and  if  I  have  none,  they  say,  '  Get  out,  you  Indian  dog.' 
You  see  they  have  not  yet  learned  those  little  good 
things,  that  we  need  no  meetings  to  be  instructed  in, 
because  our  mothers  taught  them  to  us  when  we  were 
children ;  and  therefore  it  is  impossible  their  meetings 
should  be,  as  they  say,  for  any  such  purpose,  or  have 
any  such  effect ;  they  are  only  to  contrive  the  cheating 
of  Indians  in  the  price  of  beaver." 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  461 


THE    INTERNAL    STATE    OF    AMERICA; 

BEING    A    TRUE     DESCRIPTION    OF    THE    INTEREST    AND 
POLICY    OF    THAT    VAST    CONTINENT. 

THERE  is  a  tradition,  that,  in  the  planting  of  New 
England,  the  first  settlers  met  with  many  difficulties  and 
hardships;  as  is  generally  the  case  when  a  civilized 
people  attempt  establishing  themselves  in  a  wilderness 
country.  Being  piously  disposed,  they  sought  relief 
from  Heaven,  by  laying  their  wants  and  distresses  before 
the  Lord,  in  frequent  set  days  of  fasting  and  prayer. 
Constant  meditation  and  discourse  on  these  subjects 
kept  their  minds  gloomy  and  discontented ;  and,  like 
the  children  of  Israel,  there  were  many  disposed  to  re- 
turn to  that  Egypt,  which  persecution  had  induced  them 
to  abandon.  At  length,  when  it  was  proposed  in  the 
assembly  to  proclaim  another  fast,  a  farmer  of  plain  sense 
rose,  and  remarked,  that  the  inconveniences  they  suf- 
fered, and  concerning  which  they  had  so  often  wearied 
Heaven  with  their  complaints,  were  not  so  great  as  the) 
might  have  expected,  and  were  diminishing  every  day, 
as  the  colony  strengthened ;  that  the  earth  began  to  re- 
ward their  labor,  and  to  furnish  liberally  for  their  subsis- 
tence ;  that  the  seas  and  rivers  were  found  full  of  fish, 
the  air  sweet,  the  climate  healthy ;  and,  above  all,  that 
they  were  there  in  the  full  enjoyment  of  liberty,  civil 
and  religious.  He  therefore  thought,  that  reflecting  and 
conversing  on  these  subjects  would  be  more  comforta- 
ble, as  tending  more  to  make  them  contented  with  their 
situation;  and  that  it  would  be  more  becoming  the 


462  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

gratitude  they  owed  to  the  Divine  Being,  if,  instead  of 
a  fast,  they  should  proclaim  a  thanksgiving.  His  advice 
was  taken;  and  from  that  day  to  this  they  have,  in 
every  year,  observed  circumstances  of  public  felicity 
sufficient  to  furnish  employment  for  a  thanksgiving  day ; 
which  is  therefore  constantly  ordered  and  religiously 
observed. 

I  see  in  the  public  newspapers  of  different  States 
frequent  complaints  of  hard  times,  deadness  of  trade, 
scarcity  of  money,  &c.  It  is  not  my  intention  to  assert 
or  maintain,  that  these  complaints  are  entirely  without 
foundation.  There  can  be  no  country  or  nation  exist- 
ing, in  which  there  will  not  be  some  people  so  circum- 
stanced, as  to  find  it  hard  to  gain  a  livelihood ;  people 
who  are  not  in  the  way  of  any  profitable  trade,  and  with 
whom  money  is  scarce,  because  they  have  nothing  to 
give  in  exchange  for  it ;  and  it  is  always  in  the  power 
of  a  small  number  to  make  a  great  clamor.  But  let  us 
take  a  cool  view  of  the  general  state  of  our  affairs,  and 
perhaps  the  prospect  will  appear  less  gloomy  than  has 
been  imagined. 

The  great  business  of  the  continent  is  agriculture. 
For  one  artisan,  or  merchant,  I  suppose,  we  have  at 
least  one  hundred  farmers,  by  far  the  greatest  part  cul- 
tivators of  their  own  fertile  lands,  from  whence  many  of 
them  draw,  not  only  the  food  necessary  for  their  subsis- 
tence, but  the  materials  of  their  clothing,  so  as  to  need 
very  few  foreign  supplies ;  while  they  have  a  surplus  of 
productions  to  dispose  of,  whereby  wealth  is  gradually 
accumulated.  Such  has  been  the  goodness  of  Divine 
Providence  to  these  regions,  and  so  favorable  the  cli- 
mate, that,  since  the  three  or  four  years  of  hardship  in 
the  first  settlement  of  our  fathers  here,  a  famine  or  scar- 
city has  never  been  heard  of  amongst  us ;  on  the  con- 
trary, though  some  years  may  have  been  more,  and 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  463 

others  less  plentiful,  there  has  always  been  provision 
enough  for  ourselves,  and  a  quantity  to  spare  for  expor- 
tation. And  although  the  crops  of  last  year  were 
generally  good,  never  was  the  farmer  better  paid  for  the 
part  he  can  spare  commerce,  as  the  published  price  - 
currents  abundantly  testify.  The  lands  he  possesses 
are  also  continually  rising  in  value  with  the  increase  of 
population ;  and,  on  the  whole,  he  is  enabled  to  give 
such  good  wages  to  those  who  work  for  him,  that  all 
who  are  acquainted  with  the  old  world  must  agree,  that 
in  no  part  of  it  are  the  laboring  poor  so  generally  well 
fed,  well  clothed,  well  lodged,  and  well  paid,  as  in  the 
United  States  of  America. 

If  we  enter  the  cities,  we  find,  that,  since  the  Revo- 
lution, the  owners  of  houses  and  lots  of  ground  have 
had  their  interest  vastly  augmented  in  value;  rents  have 
risen  to  an  astonishing  height,  and  thence  encourage- 
ment to  increase  building,  which  gives  employment  to 
an  abundance  of  workmen,  as  does  also  the  increased 
luxury  and  splendor  of  living  of  the  inhabitants,  thus 
made  richer.  These  workmen  all  demand  and  obtain 
much  higher  wages  than  any  other  part  of  the  world 
would  afford  them,  and  are  paid  in  ready  money.  This 
class  of  people  therefore  do  not,  or  ought  not,  to  com- 
plain of  hard  times ;  and  they  make  a  very  considerable 
part  of  the  city  inhabitants. 

At  the  distance  I  live  from  our  American  fisheries, 
I  cannot  speak  of  them  with  any  degree  of  certainty ; 
but  I  have  not  heard,  that  the  labor  of  the  valuable  race 
of  men  employed  in  them  is  worse  paid,  or  that  they 
meet  with  less  success,  than  before  the  Revolution. 
The  whalemen  indeed  have  been  deprived  of  one 
market  for  their  oil;  but  another,  I  hear,  is  opening  for 
them,  which  it  is  hoped  may  be  equally  advantageous ; 
and  the  demand  is  constantly  increasing  for  their 


464  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

spermaceti  candles,  which  therefore  bear  a  much  higher 
price  than  formerly. 

There  remain  the  merchants  and  shopkeepers.  Of 
these,  though  they  make  but  a  small  part  of  the  whole 
nation,  the  number  is  considerable,  too  great  indeed  for 
the  business  they  are  employed  in ;  for  the  consumption 
of  goods  in  every  country,  has  its  limits ;  the  faculties 
of  the  people,  that  is,  their  ability  to  buy  and  pay,  being 
equal  only  to  a  certain  quantity  of  merchandise.  If 
merchants  calculate  amiss  on  this  proportion,  and  import 
too  much,  they  will  of  course  find  the  sale  dull  for  the 
overplus,  and  some  of  them  will  say,  that  trade  lan- 
guishes. They  should,  and  doubtless  will,  grow  wiser 
by  experience,  and  import  less.  If  too  many  artificers 
in  town,  and  farmers  from  the  country,  flattering  them- 
selves with  the  idea  of  leading  easier  lives,  turn  shop- 
keepers, the  whole  natural  quantity  of  that  business 
divided  among  them  all  may  afford  too  small  a  share 
for  each,  and  occasion  complaints,  that  trade  is  dead ; 
these  may  also  suppose,  that  it  is  owing  to  scarcity  of 
money,  while,  in  fact,  it  is  not  so  much  from  the  few- 
ness of  buyers,  as  from  the  excessive  number  of  sellers, 
that  the  mischief  arises ;  and,  if  every  shop-keeping 
farmer  and  mechanic  would  return  to  the  use  of  his 
plough  and  working-tools,  there  would  remain  of  wid- 
ows, and  other  women,  shop-keepers  sufficient  for  the 
business,  which  might  then  afford  them  a  comfortable 
maintenance. 

Whoever  has  travelled  through  the  various  parts  of 
Europe,  and  observed  how  small  is  the  proportion  of 
people  in  affluence  or  easy  circumstances  there,  com- 
pared with  those  in  poverty  and  misery ;  the  few  rich 
and  haughty  landlords,  the  multitude  of  poor,  abject, 
rack-rented,  tythe-paying  tenants,  and  half-paid  and 
half-starved  ragged  laborers ;  and  views  here  the  happy 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  465 

mediocrity,  that  so  generally  prevails  throughout  these 
States,  where  the  cultivator  works  for  himself,  and  sup- 
ports his  family  in  decent  plenty,  will,  methinks,  see 
abundant  reason  to  bless  Divine  Providence  for  the  evi- 
dent and  great  difference  in  our  favor,  and  be  con- 
vinced, that  no  nation  known  to  us  enjoys  a  greater 
share  of  human  felicity. 

It  is  true,  that  in  some  of  the  States  there  are  parties 
and  discords ;  but  let  us  look  back,  and  ask  if  we  were 
ever  without  them  ?  Such  will  exist  wherever  there  is 
liberty ;  and  perhaps  they  help  to  preserve  it.  By  the 
collision  of  different  sentiments,  sparks  of  truth  are 
struck  out,  and  political  light  is  obtained.  The  different 
factions,  which  at  present  divide  us,  aim  all  at  the  pub- 
lic good;  the  differences  are  only  about  the  various 
modes  of  promoting  it.  Things,  actions,  measures,  and 
objects  of  all  kinds,  present  themselves  to  the  minds  of 
men  in  such  a  variety  of  lights,  that  it  is  not  possible 
we  should  all  think  alike  at  the  same  time  on  every  sub- 
ject, when  hardly  the  same  man  retains  at  all  times  the 
same  ideas  of  it.  Parties  are  therefore  the  common  lot 
of  humanity ;  and  ours  are  by  no  means  more  mischiev- 
ous or  less  beneficial  than  those  of  other  countries,  na- 
tions, and  ages,  enjoying  in  the  same  degree  the  great, 
blessing  of  political  liberty. 

Some  indeed  among  us  are  not  so  much  grieved  for 
the  present  state  of  our  affairs,  as  apprehensive  for  the 
future.  The  growth  of  luxury  alarms  them,  and  they 
think  we  are  from  that  alone  in  the  high  road  to  ruin. 
They  observe,  that  no  revenue  is  sufficient  without 
economy,  and  that  the  most  plentiful  income  of  a  whole 
people  from  the  natural  productions  of  their  country 
may  be  dissipated  in  vain  and  needless  expenses,  and 
poverty  be  introduced  in  the  place  of  affluence.  This 
may  be  possible.  It  however  rarely  happens;  lor 

VOL.  n.  30 


466  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

there  seems  to  be  in  every  nation  a  greater  proportion 
of  industry  and  frugality,  which  tend  to  enrich,  than  of 
idleness  and  prodigality,  which  occasion  poverty  ;  so  that 
upon  the  whole  there  is  a  continual  accumulation.  Re- 
flect what  Spain,  Gaul,  Germany,  and  Britain  were  in 
the  time  of  the  Romans,  inhabited  by  people  little  richer 
than  our  savages,  and  consider  the  wealth  they  at  pres- 
ent possess,  in  numerous  well-built  cities,  improved 
farms,  rich  movables,  magazines  stocked  with  valuable 
manufactures,  to  say  nothing  of  plate,  jewels,  and  coined 
money ;  and  all  this,  notwithstanding  their  bad,  wasteful, 
plundering  governments,  and  their  mad,  destructive 
wars ;  and  yet  luxury  and  extravagant  living  have  never 
suffered  much  restraint  in  those  countries.  Then  con- 
sider the  great  proportion  of  industrious  frugal  farmers 
inhabiting  the  interior  parts  of  these  American  States, 
and  of  whom  the  body  of  our  nation  consists ;  and  judge 
whether  it  is  possible,  that  the  luxury  of  our  seaports 
can  be  sufficient  to  ruin  such  a  country.  If  the  impor- 
tation of  foreign  luxuries  could  ruin  a  people,  we  should 
probably  have  been  ruined  long  ago ;  for  the  British  na- 
tion claimed  a  right,  and  practised  it,  of  importing  among 
us,  not  only  the  superfluities  of  their  own  production,  but 
those  of  every  nation  under  heaven ;  we  bought  and 
consumed  them,  and  yet  we  flourished  and  grew  rich. 
At  present,  our  independent  governments  may  do  what 
we  could  not  then  do,  discourage  by  heavy  duties,  or 
prevent  by  heavy  prohibitions,  such  importations,  and 
thereby  grow  richer;  if,  indeed,  which  may  admit  of 
dispute,  the  desire  of  adorning  ourselves  with  fine 
clothes,  possessing  fine  furniture,  with  elegant  houses, 
&,c.,  is  not,  by  strongly  inciting  to  labor  and  industry, 
the  occasion  of  producing  a  greater  value,  than  is  con- 
sumed in  the  gratification  of  that  desire. 

The  agriculture  and  fisheries  of  the  United  States  are 
the  great,   sources  of  our  increasing  wealth.     He  that 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  467 

puts  a  seed  into  the  earth  is  recompensed,  perhaps,  by 
receiving  forty  out  of  it;  and  he  who  draws  a  fish  out 
of  our  water,  draws  up  a  piece  of  silver. 

Let  us  (and  there  is  no  doubt  but  we  shall)  be  atten- 
tive to  these,  and  then  the  power  of  rivals,  with  all  their 
restraining  and  prohibiting  acts,  cannot  much  hurt  us. 
We  are  sons  of  the  earth  and  seas,  and,  like  Antaeus  in 
the  fable,  if,  in  wrestling  with  a  Hercules,  we  now  and 
then  receive  a  fall,  the  touch  of  our  parents  will  commu- 
nicate to  us  fresh  strength  and  vigor  to  renew  the  con- 
test. 


INFORMATION 

TO  THOSE  WHO  WOULD  REMOVE  TO  AMERICA. 

MANY  persons  in  Europe,  having  directly  or  by  let- 
ters, expressed  to  the  writer  of  this,  who  is  well  ac- 
quainted with  North  America,  their  desire  of  transport- 
ing and  establishing  themselves  in  that  country ;  but  who 
appear  to  have  formed,  through  ignorance,  mistaken 
ideas  and  expectations  of  what  is  to  be  obtained  there ; 
he  thinks  it  may  be  useful,  and  prevent  inconvenient, 
expensive,  and  fruitless  removals  and  voyages  of  im- 
proper persons,  if  he  gives  some  clearer  and  truer  no- 
tions of  that  part  of  the  world,  than  appear  to  have 
hitherto  prevailed. 

He  finds  it  is  imagined  by  numbers,  that  the  inhabi- 
tants of  North  America  are  rich,  capable  of  rewarding, 
and  disposed  to  reward,  all  sorts  of  ingenuity ;  that  they 
are  at  the  same  time  ignorant  of  all  the  sciences,  and, 
consequently,  that  strangers,  possessing  talents  in  the 
belles-lettres,  fine  arts,  &c.,  must  be  highly  esteemed, 


468  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS 

and  so  well  paid,  as  to  become  easily  rich  themselves ; 
that  there  are  also  abundance  of  profitable  offices  to  be 
disposed  of,  which  the  natives  are  not  qualified  to  fill ; 
and  that,  having  few  persons  of  family  among  them, 
strangers  of  birth  must  be  greatly  respected,  and  of 
course  easily  obtain  the  best  of  those  offices,  which  will 
make  all  their  fortunes;  that  the  governments  too,  to 
encourage  emigrations  from  Europe,  not  only  pay  the 
expense  of  personal  transportation,  but  give  lands  gratis 
to  strangers,  with  negroes  to  work  for  them,  utensils  of 
husbandry,  and  stocks  of  cattle.  These  are  all  wild 
imaginations ;  and  those  who  go  to  America  with  expec- 
tations founded  upon  them  will  surely  find  themselves 
disappointed. 

(flhe  truth  is,  that  though  there  are  in  that  country 
few  people  so  miserable  as  the  poor  of  Europe,  there 
are  also  very  few  that  in  Europe  would  be  called  rich ; 
it  is  rather  a  general  happy  mediocrity  that  prevails. 
There  are  few  great  proprietors  of  the  soil,  and  few  ten- 
ants; most  people  cultivate  their  own  lands,  or  follow 
some  handicraft  or  merchandise ;  very  few  rich  enough 
to  live  idly  upon  their  rents  or  incomes,  or  to  pay  the 
highest  prices  given  in  Europe  for  painting,  statues,  ar- 
chitecture, and  the  other  works  of  art,  that  are  more 
curious  than  useful.  Hence  the  natural  genuises,  that 
have  arisen  in  America  with  such  talents,  have  uni- 
fonnly  quitted  that  country  for  Europe,  where  they  can 
be  more  suitably  rewarded.  It  is  true,  that  letters  and 
mathematical  knowledge  are  in  esteem  there,  but  they 
are  at  the  same  time  more  common  than  is  apprehend- 
ed ;  there  being  already  existing  nine  colleges  or  uni- 
versities, viz.  four  in  New  England,  and  one  in  each 
of  the  provinces  of  New  York,  New  Jersey,  Pennsyl- 
vania, Maryland,  and  Virginia,  all  furnished  with  learn- 
ed professors ;  besides  a  number  of  smaller  academies ; 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY*.  469 

these  educate  many  of  their  youth  in  the  languages, 
and  those  sciences  that  qualify  men  for  the  professions 
of  divinity,  law,  or  physic.  Strangers  indeed  are  by  no 
means  excluded  from  exercising  those  professions ;  and 
the  quick  increase  of  inhabitants  everywhere  gives 
them  a  chance  of  employ,  which  they  have  in  common 
with  the  natives.  Of  civil  offices,  or  employments, 
there  are  few ;  no  superfluous  ones,  as  in  Europe ;  and 
it  is  a  rule  established  in  some  of  the  States,  that  no  of- 
fice should  be  so  profitable  as  to  make  it  desirable. 
The  thirty-sixth  article  of  the  Constitution  of  Penn- 
sylvania, runs  expressly  in  these  words;  "As  every 
freeman,  to  preserve  his  independence,  (if  he  has  not  a 
sufficient  estate)  ought  to  have  some  profession,  calling, 
trade,  or  farm,  whereby  he  may  honestly  subsist,  there 
can  be  no  necessity  for,  nor  use  in,  establishing  offices 
of  profit;  the  usual  effects  of  which  are  dependence 
and  servility,  unbecoming  freemen,  in  the  possessors 
and  expectants;  faction,  contention,  corruption,  and 
disorder  among  the  people.  Wherefore,  whenever  an 
office,  through  increase  of  fees  or  otherwise,  becomes 
so  profitable,  as  to  occasion  many  to  apply  for  it,  the 
profits  ought  to  be  lessened  by  the  legislature." 

These  ideas  prevailing  more  or  less  in  all  the  United 
States,  it  cannot  be  worth  any  man's  while,  who  has  a 
means  of  living  at  home,  to  expatriate  himself,  in  hopes 
of  obtaining  a  profitable  civil  office  in  America ;  and,  as 
to  military  offices,  they  are  at  an  end  with  the  war,  the 
armies  being  disbanded.  Much  less  is  it  advisable  for 
a  person  to  go  thither,  who  has  no  other  quality  to  re- 
commend him  but  his  birth.  In  Europe  it  has  indeed 
its  value ;  but  it  is  a  commodity  that  cannot  be  carried 
to  a  worse  market  than  that  of  America,  where  peo- 
ple do  not  inquire  concerning  a  stranger,  What  is  he  ? 
but,  What  can  he  do?  If  he  has  any  useful  art,  he  is 


170  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

\velcome ;  and  if  he  exercises  it,  and  behaves  well,  he 
will  be  respected  by  all  that  know  him ;  but  a  mere 
man  of  quality,  who,  on  that  account,  wants  to  live 
upon  the  public,  by  some  office  or  salary,  will  be  de- 
spised and  disregarded.  The  husbandman  is  in  honor 
there,  and  even  the  mechanic,  because  their  employ- 
ments are  useful.  The  people  have  a  saying,  that  God 
Almighty  is  himself  a  mechanic,  the  greatest  in  the 
universe;  and  he  is  respected  and  admired  more  for 
the  variety,  ingenuity,  and  utility  of  his  handiworks, 
than  for  the  antiquity  of  his  family.  They  are  pleased 
with  the  observation  of  a  negro,  and  frequently  mention 
it,  that  Boccarora  (meaning  the  white  man)  make  de 
black  man  workee,  make  de  horse  workee,  make  de  ox 
workee,  make  ebery  ting  ivorkee ;  only  de  hog.  He,  de 
hog,  no  ivorkee ;  he  eat,  he  drink,  he  walk  about,  he  go 
to  sleep  when  he  please,  he  live  like  a  gempleman.  Ac- 
cording to  these  opinions  of  the  Americans,  one  of  them 
would  think  himself  more  obliged  to  a  genealogist,  who 
could  prove  for  him  that  his  ancestors  and  relations  for 
ten  generations  had  been  ploughmen,  smiths,  carpen- 
ters, turners,  weavers,  tanners,  or  even  shoemakers, 
and  consequently  that  they  were  useful  members  of 
society;  than  if  he  could  only  prove  that  they  were 
gentlemen,  doing  nothing  of  value,  but  living  idly  on 
the  labor  of  others,  mere  fniges  consumere  nati*  and 
otherwise  good  for  nothing,  till  by  their  death  their 
estates,  like  the  carcass  of  the  negro's  gentleman-hog, 
come  to  be  cut  up. 

With  regard  to  encouragements  for  strangers  from 
government,  they  are  really  only  what  are  derived  from 
good  laws  and  liberty.  Strangers  are  welcome,  be- 
cause there  is  room  enough  for  them  all,  and  therefore 

*« born 

Merely  to  eat  up  the  corn."- WATTS. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  471 

the  old  inhabitants  are  not  jealous  of  them ;  the  laws 
protect  them  sufficiently,  so  that  they  have  no  need  of 
the  patronage  of  great  men ;  and  every  one  will  enjoy 
securely  the  profits  of  his  industry.  But,  if  he  does 
not  bring  a  fortune  with  him,  he  must  work  and  be  in- 
dustrious to  live.  One  or  two  years'  residence  gives 
him  all  the  rights  of  a  citizen ;  but  the  government  does 
not,  at  present,  whatever  it  may  have  done  in  former 
times,  hire  people  to  become  settlers,  by  paying  their 
passages,  giving  land,  negroes,  utensils,  stock,  or  any 
other  kind  of  emolument  whatsoever.  In  short,  Amer- 
ica is  the  land  of  labor,  and  by  no  means  what  the 
English  call  Lubberland,  and  the  French  Pays  de  Co- 
cagne,  where  the  streets  are  said  to  be  paved  with 
half-peck  loaves,  the  houses  tiled  with  pancakes,  and 
where  the  fowls  fly  about  ready  roasted,  crying,  Come 
eat  me  ! 

Who  then  are  the  kind  of  persons  to  whom  an  emi- 
gration to  America  may  be  advantageous  ?  And  what 
are  the  advantages  they  may  reasonably  expect  ? 

Land  being  cheap  in  that  country,  from  the  vast 
forests  still  void  of  inhabitants,  and  not  likely  to  be 
occupied  in  an  age  to  come,  insomuch  that  the  pro- 
priety of  an  hundred  acres  of  fertile  soil  full  of  wood 
may  be  obtained  near  the  frontiers,  in  many  places, 
for  eight  or  ten  guineas,  hearty  young  laboring  men, 
who  understand  the  husbandry  of  corn  and  cattle, 
which  is  nearly  the  same  in  that  country  as  in  Europe;, 
may  easily  establish  themselves  there.  A  little  money 
saved  of  the  good  wages  they  receive  there,  while  they 
work  for  others,  enables  them  to  buy  the  land  and  begin 
their  plantation,  in  which  they  are  assisted  by  the  good- 
w;U  of  their  neighbours,  and  some  credit.  Multitudes 
ol  poor  people  from  England,  Ireland,  Scotland,  and 
Germany,  have  by  this  means  in  a  few  years  become 


472  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

wealthy  fanners,  who,  in  their  own  countries,  where  all 
the  lands  are  fully  occupied,  and  the  wages  of  labor 
low,  could  never  have  emerged  from  the  poor  condition 
wherein  they  were  born. 

From  the  salubrity  of  the  air,  the  healthiness  of  the 
climate,  the  plenty  of  good  provisions,  and  the  en- 
couragement to  early  marriages  by  the  certainty  of 
subsistence  in  cultivating  the  earth,  the  increase  of  in- 
habitants by  natural  generation  is  very  rapid  in  Amer- 
ica, and  becomes  still  more  so  by  the  accession  of  stran- 
gers; hence  there  is  a  continual  demand  for  more  arti- 
sans of  all  the  necessary  and  useful  kinds,  to  supply 
those  cultivators  of  the  earth  with  houses,  and  with 
furniture  and  utensils  of  the  grosser  sorts,  which  can- 
not so  well  be  brought  from  Europe.  Tolerably  good 
workmen  in  any  of  those  mechanic  arts  are  sure  to  find 
employ,  and  to  be  well  paid  for  their  work,  there  being 
no  restraints  preventing  strangers  from  exercising  any 
art  they  understand,  nor  any  permission  necessary.  If 
they  are  poor,  they  begin  first  as  servants  or  journey- 
men ;  and  if  they  are  vsober,  industrious,  and  frugal, 
they  soon  become  masters,  establish  themselves  in  bu- 
siness, marry,  raise  families,  and  become  respectable 
citizens. 

Also,  persons  of  moderate  fortunes  and  capitals,  who, 
having  a  number  of  children  to  provide  for,  are  desir- 
ous of  bringing  them  up  to  industry,  and  to  secure  es- 
tates for  their  posterity,  have  opportunities  of  doing  it 
in  America,  which  Europe  does  not  afford.  There  they 
may  be  taught  and  practise  profitable  mechanic  arts, 
without  incurring  disgrace  on  that  account,  but  on  the 
contrary  acquiring  respect  by  such  abilities.  There 
small  capitals  laid  out  in  lands,  which  daily  become 
more  valuable  by  the  increase  of  people,  afford  a  solid 
prospect  of  ample  fortunes  thereafter  for  those  children. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  473 

The  writer  of  this  has  known  several  instances  of  large 
tracts  of  land,  bought,  on  what  was  then  the  frontier  of 
Pennsylvania,  for  ten  pounds  per  hundred  acres,  which, 
when  the  settlements  had  been  extended  far  beyond 
them,  sold  readily,  without  any  improvement  made 
upon  them,  for  three  pounds  per  acre.  The  acre  ki 
America  is  the  same  with  the  English  acre,  or  the  acre 
of  Normandy. 

Those,  who  desire  to  understand  the  state  of  govern- 
ment in  America,  would  do  well  to  read  the  constitu- 
tions of  the  several  States,  and  the  articles  of  confede- 
ration that  bind  the  whole  together  for  general  pur- 
poses, under  the  direction  of  one  assembly,  called  the 
Congress.  These  constitutions  have  been  printed,  by 
order  of  Congress,  in  America;  two  editions  of  them 
have  also  been  printed  in  London ;  and  a  good  trans- 
lation of  them  into  French  has  lately  been  published 
at  Paris. 

Several  of  the  princes  of  Europe  of  late,  from  an 
opinion  of  advantage  to  arise  by  producing  all  com- 
modities and  manufactures  within  their  own  dominions, 
so  as  to  diminish  or  render  useless  their  importations, 
have  endeavoured  to  entice  workmen  from  other  coun- 
tries by  high  salaries,  privileges,  &c.  Many  persons, 
pretending  to  be  skilled  in  various  great  manufactures, 
imagining  that  America  must  be  in  want  of  them,  and 
that  the  Congress  would  probably  be  disposed  to  imi- 
tate the  princes  above  mentioned,  have  proposed  to  go 
over,  on  condition  of  having  their  passages  paid,  lands 
given,  salaries  appointed,  exclusive  privileges  for  terms 
of  years,  &LC.  Such  persons,  on  reading  the  articles 
of  confederation,  will  find,  that  the  Congress  have  no 
power  committed  to  them,  nor  money  put  into  their 
hands,  for  such  purposes;  and  that  if  any  such  en- 
couragement is  given,  it  must  be  by  the  government 


474  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

of  some  separate  State.  This,  however,  has  rarely 
been  done  in  America ;  and,  when  it  has  been  done,  it 
has  rarely  succeeded,  so  as  to  establish  a  manufacture, 
which  the  country  was  not  yet  so  ripe  for  as  to  en- 
courage private  persons  to  set  it  up ;  labor  being  gener- 
ally too  dear  there,  and  hands  difficult  to  be  kept  to- 
gether, every  one  desiring  to  be  a  master,  and  the 
cheapness  of  lands  inclining  many  to  leave  trades  for 
agriculture.  Some  indeed  have  met  with  success,  and 
are  carried  on  to  advantage ;  but  they  are  generally 
such  as  require  only  a  few  hands,  or  wherein  great 
part  of  the  work  is  performed  by  machines.  Goods 
that  are  bulky,  and  of  so  small  value  as  not  well  to  bear 
the  expense  of  freight,  may  often  be  made  cheaper  in 
the  country  than  they  can  be  imported;  and  the  manu- 
facture of  such  goods  will  be  profitable  wherever  there 
is  a  sufficient  demand.  The  farmers  in  America  pro- 
duce indeed  a  good  deal  of  wool  and  flax ;  and  none  is 
exported,  it  is  all  worked  up;  but  it  is  in  the  way  of 
domestic  manufacture,  for  the  use  of  the  family.  The 
buying  up  quantities  of  wool  and  flax,  with  the  design 
to  employ  spinners,  weavers,  &c.,  and  form  great  es- 
tablishments, producing  quantities  of  linen  and  woollen 
goods  for  sale,  has  been  several  times  attempted  in  dif- 
ferent provinces;  but  those  projects  have  generally 
failed,  goods  of  equal  value  being  imported  cheaper. 
And  when  the  governments  have  been  solicited  to 
support  such  schemes  by  encouragements,  in  money, 
or  by  imposing  duties  on  importation  of  such  goods, 
it  has  been  generally  refused,  on  this  principle,  that,  if 
the  country  is  ripe  for  the  manufacture,  it  may  be  car- 
-ried  on  by  private  persons  to  advantage;  and  if  i.ot, 
it  is  a  folly  to  think  of  forcing  nature.  Great  estab- 
lishments of  manufacture  require  great  numbers  of  poor 
to  do  the  work  for  small  wages;  those  poor  are  to  be 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  475 

found  in  Europe,  but  will  not  be  found  in  America, 
till  the  lands  are  all  taken  up  and  cultivated,  and  the 
excess  of  people,  who  cannot  get  land,  want  employ- 
ment. The  manufacture  of  silk,  they  say,  is  natural 
in  France,  as  that  of  cloth  in  England,  because  each 
country  produces  in  plenty  the  first  material;  but  if 
England  will  have  a  manufacture  of  silk  as  well  as  that 
of  cloth,  and  France  of  cloth  as  well  as  that  of  silk, 
these  unnatural  operations  must  be  supported  by  mu- 
tual prohibitions,  or  high  duties  on  the  importation  of 
each  other's  goods ;  by  which  means  the  workmen  are 
enabled  to  tax  the  home  consumer  by  greater  prices, 
while  the  higher  wages  they  receive  makes  them  neither 
happier  nor  richer,  since  they  only  drink  more  and 
work  less.  Therefore  the  governments  in  America  do 
nothing  to  encourage  such  projects.  The  people,  by 
this  means,  are  not  imposed  on,  either  by  the  mer- 
chant or  mechanic.  If  the  merchant  demands  too  much 
profit  on  imported  shoes,  they  buy  of  the  shoemaker; 
and  if  he  asks  too  high  a  price,  they  take  them  of  the 
merchant ;  thus  the  two  professions  are  checks  on  each 
other.  The  shoemaker,  however,  has,  on  the  whole, 
a  considerable  profit  upon  his  labor  in  America,  beyond 
what  he  had  in  Europe,  as  he  can  add  to  his  price  a 
sum  nearly  equal  to  all  the  expenses  of  freight  and. 
commission,  risk  or  insurance,  &,c.,  necessarily  charged 
by  the  merchant.  And  the  case  is  the  same  with  the 
workmen  in  every  other  mechanic  art.  Hence  it  is, 
that  artisans  generally  live  better  and  more  easily  in 
America  than  in  Europe ;  and  such  as  are  good  econo- 
mists make  a  comfortable  provision  for  age,  and  for 
their  children.  Such  may,  therefore,  remove  with  ad- 
vantage to  America. 

In    the   long-settled   countries    of   Europe,   all   arts, 
trades,    professions,   farms,    &,c.,    are  so  full,   that  it  is 


476  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

difficult  for  a  poor  man,  who  has  children,  to  place  them 
where  they  may  gain,  or  learn  to  gain,  a  decent  liveli- 
hood. The  artisans,  who  fear  creating  future  rivals  in 
business,  refuse  to  take  apprentices,  but  upon  condi- 
tions of  money,  maintenance,  or  the  like,  which  the 
parents  are  unable  to  comply  with.  Hence  the  youth 
are  dragged  up  in  ignorance  of  every  gainful  art,  and 
obliged  to  become  soldiers,  or  servants,  or  thieves,  for 
a  subsistence.  In  America,  the  rapid  increase  of  in- 
habitants takes  away  that  fear  of  rivalship,  and  artisans 
willingly  receive  apprentices  from  the  hope  of  profit  by 
their  labor,  during  the  remainder  of  the  time  stipulated, 
after  they  shall  be  instructed.  Hence  it  is  easy  for 
poor  families  to  get  their  children  instructed;  for  the 
artisans  are  so  desirous  of  apprentices,  that  many  of 
them  will  even  give  money  to  the  parents,  to  have 
boys  from  ten  to  fifteen  years  of  age  bound  appren- 
tices to  them  till  the  age  of  twenty-one;  and  many 
poor  parents  have,  by  that  means,  on  their  arrival  in 
the  country,  raised  money  enough  to  buy  land  suffi- 
cient to  establish  themselves,  and  to  subsist  the  rest 
of  their  family  by  agriculture.  These  contracts  for 
apprentices  are  made  before  a  magistrate,  who  regu- 
lates the  agreement  according  to  reason  and  justice, 
and,  having  in  view  the  formation  of  a  future  and  use- 
ful citizen,  obliges  the  master  to  engage  by  a  written 
indenture,  not  only  that,  during  the  time  of  service 
stipulated,  the  apprentice  shall  be  duly  provided  with 
meat,  drink,  apparel,  washing,  and  lodging,  and,  at  its 
expiration,  with  a  complete  new  suit  of  clothes,  but 
also  that  he  shall  be  taught  to  read,  write,  and  cast 
accounts;  and  that  he  shall  be  well  instructed  in  the 
art  or  profession  of  his  master,  or  some  other,  by  which 
he  may  afterwards  gain  a  livelihood,  and  be  able  in 
his  turn  to  raise,  a  family.  A  copy  of  this  indenture  is 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  477 

given  to  the  apprentice  or  his  friends,  and  the  magis- 
trate keeps  a  record  of  it,  to  which  recourse  may  be 
had,  in  case  of  failure  by  the  master  in  any  point  of 
performance.  This  desire  among  the  masters,  to  have 
more  hands  employed  in  working  for  them,  induces 
them  to  pay  the  passages  of  young  persons,  of  both 
sexes,  who,  on  their  arrival,  agree  to  serve  them  one, 
two,  three,  or  four  years;  those,  who  have  already 
learned  a  trade,  agreeing  for  a  shorter  term,  in  pro- 
portion to  their  skill,  and  the  consequent  immediate 
value  of  their  service ;  and  those,  who  have  none, 
agreeing  for  a  longer  term,  in  consideration  of  being 
taught  an  art  their  poverty  would  not  permit  them  to 
acquire  in  their  own  country. 

The  almost  general  mediocrity  of  fortune  that  pre- 
vails in  America  obliging  its  people  to  follow  some 
business  for  subsistence,  those  vices,  that  arise  usually 
from  idleness,  are  in  a  great  measure  prevented.  In- 
dustry and  constant  employment  are  great  preserva- 
tives of  the  morals  and  virtue  of  a  nation.  Hence  bad 
examples  to  youth  are  more  rare  in  America,  which 
must  be  a  comfortable  consideration  to  parents.  To 
this  may  be  truly  added,  that  serious  religion,  under 
its  various  denominations,  is  not  only  tolerated,  but 
respected  and  practised.  Atheism  is  unknown  there; 
infidelity  rare  and  secret ;  so  that  persons  may  live  to 
a  great  age  in  that  country,  without  having  their  piety 
shocked  by  meeting  with  either  an  atheist  or  an  infi- 
del. And  the  Divine  Being  seems  to  have  manifested 
his  approbation  of  the  mutual  forbearance  and  kind- 
ness with  which  the  different  sects  treat  each  other, 
by  the  remarkable  prosperity  with  which  He  has  been 
pleased  to  favor  the  whole  country. 


478  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

ON    THE    CRIMINAL    LAWS 
AND   THE    PRACTICE    OF    PRIVATEERING 


The  following  paper  was  written  in  the  form  of  a  letter  to 
Mr.  Benjamin  Vaughan,  and  dated  at  Passy,  March  14th,  1785. 
It  first  appeared  anonymously  in  a  small  volume  published  by 
Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  in  the  year  1786,  being  OBSERVATIONS  on  a 
treatise  by  Dr.  Madan,  entitled  "  Thoughts  on  Executive  Justice'' 
The  letter  contains  remarks  on  the  same  publication  It  was 
communicated  by  Mr.  Vaughan  to  Sir  Samuel  Romilly,  who  printed 
it  at  the  end  of  his  OBSERVATIONS,  under  the  title  of  "  A  Letter 
from  a  Gentleman  abroad  to  his  Friend  in  England,"  and  prefixed 
to  it  an  explanatory  advertisement. 

"  The  writer  of  the  foregoing  Observations,"  says  he,  "  having 
been  favored  with  a  copy  of  the  following  letter  by  a  friend  of  his, 
to  whom  it  was  addressed,  thought  he  should  render  a  very  ac- 
ceptable service  to  the  public  by  printing  it.  At  the  same  time 
he  cannot  but  feel  it  incumbent  on  him  to  make  some  apology  for 
publishing  it  in  the  form  of  an  Appendix  to  a  work,  which  it  very 
far  surpasses  in  every  kind  of  merit.  The  truth  is,  he  was  not  at 
liberty  to  print  it  any  other  manner.  The  simplicity  of  style  and 
liberality  of  thought,  which  distinguish  it,  cannot  fail  of  discover- 
ing its  venerable  author  to  such  as  are  already  acquainted  with 
his  valuable  writings.  To  those,  who  have  not  that  good  fortune, 
the  editor  is  not  permitted  to  say  more,  than  that  it  is  the  produc- 
tion of  one  of  the  best  and  most  eminent  men  of  the  present  age." 

This  testimony  is  valuable  from  such  a  man  as  Sir  Samuel 
Romilly.  And  indeed  the  letter  may  well  be  classed  among  the 
best  of  the  author's  writings,  whether  regarded  as  to  the  vigor  and 
clearness  of  the  style,  the  benign  spirit  it  breathes,  or  its  bold 
defence  of  the  rights  of  humanity  and  justice.  —  EDITOR. 


March  14th,  1785. 

MY  DEAR  FRIEND, 

Among  the  pamphlets  you  latelp  sent  me  was  one 
entitled    "  Thoughts  on  Executive  Justice."     In  return 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  479 

for  that,  I  send  you  a  French  one  on  the  same  subjeci, 
Observations  concernant  ^Execution  de  Fjlrticle  II.  de 
fa  Declaration  sur  le  Vol.  They  are  both  addressed 
to  the  judges,  but  written,  as  you  will  see,  in  a  very 
different  spirit.  The  English  author  is  for  hanging  all 
thieves.  The  Frenchman  is  for  proportioning  punish 
ments  to  offences. 

If  we  really  believe,  as  we  profess  to  believe,  that 
the  law  of  Moses  was  the  law  of  God,  the  dictate  of 
divine  wisdom,  infinitely  superior  to  human;  on  what 
principles  do  we  ordain  death  as  the  punishment  of 
an  offence,  which,  according  to  that  law,  was  only  to 
be  punished  by  a  restitution  of  fourfold  ?  To  put  a 
man  to  death  for  an  offence  which  does  not  deserve 
death,  is  it  not  a  murder?  And,  as  the  French  writer 
says,  Doit-on  punir  un  dzlit  contre  la  societe  par  vn 
crime  contre  la  nature  ?  * 

Superfluous  property  is  the  creature  of  society. 
Simple  and  mild  laws  were  sufficient  to  guard  the 
property  that  was  merely  necessary.  The  savage's 
bow,  his  hatchet,  and  his  coat  of  skins,  were  suffi- 
ciently secured,  without  law,  by  the  fear  of  personal 
resentment  and  retaliation.  When,  by  virtue  of  the 
first  laws,  part  of  the  society  accumulated  wealth  and 
grew  powerful,  they  enacted  others  more  severe,  and 
would  protect  their  property  at  the  expense  of  hu- 
manity. This  was  abusing  their  power,  and  com- 
mencing a  tyranny.  If  a  savage,  before  he  entered 
inn>  society,  had  been  told,  "Your  neighbour  by  this 
means  may  become  owner  of  an  hundred  deer;  but  if 
your  brother,  or  your  son,  or  yourself,  having  no  deer 
of  your  own,  and  being  hungry,  should  kill  one,  an 
infamous  death  must  be  the  consequence;"  he  would 

*  "  Ought  an  offence  against  society  to  be  punished  by  a  crime  against 
nature  ?  " 


480  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

probably  have  preferred  his  liberty,  and  his  common 
right  of  killing  any  deer,  to  all  the  advantages  ol 
society  that  might  be  proposed  to  him. 

That  it  is  better  a  hundred  guilty  persons  should 
escape  than  that  one  innocent  person  should  suffer,  is 
a  maxim  that  has  been  long  and  generally  approved ; 
never,  that  I  know  of,  controverted.  Even  the  san- 
guinary author  of  the  "  Thoughts"  agrees  to  it,  adding 
well,  "  that  the  very  thought  of  injured  innocence,  and 
much  more  that  of  suffering  innocence,  must  awaken 
all  our  tenderest  and  most  compassionate  feelings,  and 
at  the  same  time  raise  our  highest  indignation  against 
the  instruments  of  it.  But,"  he  adds,  "there  is  no 
danger  of  either,  from  a  strict  adherence  to  the  laws." 
Really  !  Is  it  then  impossible  to  make  an  unjust  law  ? 
and  if  the  law  itself  be  unjust,  may  it  not  be  the  very 
"instrument"  which  ought  to  "raise  the  author's  and 
everybody's  highest  indignation"?  I  see,  in  the  last 
newspapers  from  London,  that  a  woman  is  capitally 
convicted  at  the  Old  Bailey,  for  privately  stealing  out 
of  a  shop  some  gauze,  value  fourteen  shillings  and 
threepence  ;  is  there  any  proportion  between  the  injury 
done  by  a  theft,  value  fourteen  shillings  and  threepence, 
and  the  punishment  of  a  human  creature,  by  death, 
on  a  gibbet?  Might  not  the  woman,  by  her  labor, 
have  made  the  reparation  ordained  by  God,  in  paying 
fourfold?  Is  not  all  punishment  inflicted  beyond  the 
merit  of  the  offence,  so  much  punishment  of  innocence  ? 
In  this  light,  how  vast  is  the  annual  quantity  of  not 
only  injured,  but  suffering  innocence,  in  almost  all  the 
civilized  states  of  Europe  ! 

But  it  seems  to  have  been  thought,  that  this  kind 
of  innocence  may  be  punished  by  way  of  preventing 
crimes.  I  have  read,  indeed,  of  a  cruel  Turk  in  Bar- 
bary,  who,  whenever  he  bought  a  new  Christian  slave, 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  481 

ordered  him  immediately  to  be  hung  up  by  the  legs, 
and  to  receive  a  hundred  blows  of  a  cudgel  on  the 
soles  of  his  feet,  that  the  severe  sense  of  the  punish- 
ment, and  fear  of  incurring  it  thereafter,  might  prevent 
the  faults  that  should  merit  it.  Our  author  himself 
would  hardly  approve  entirely  of  this  Turk's  conduct 
in  the  government  of  slaves ;  and  yet  he  appears  to 
recommend  something  like  it  for  the  government  ol 
English  subjects,  when  he  applauds  the  reply  of  Judge 
Burnet  to  the  convict  horse -stealer,  who,  being  asked 
what  he  had  to  say  why  judgment  of  death  should 
not  pass  against  him,  and  answering,  than  it  was  hard 
to  hang  a  man  for  only  stealing  a  horse,  was  told  by 
the  judge,  "  Man,  thou  art  not  to  be  hanged  only 
for  stealing,  but  that  horses  may  not  be  stolen." 

The  man's  answer,  if  candidly  examined,  will  I 
imagine  appear  reasonable,  as  founded  on  the  eternal 
principle  of  justice  and  equity,  that  punishments  should 
be  proportioned  to  offences ;  and  the  judge's  reply 
brutal  and  unreasonable,  though  the  writer  "wishes  all 
judges  to  carry  it  with  them  whenever  they  go  the 
circuit,  and  to  bear  it  in  their  minds  as  containing  a 
wise  reason  for  all  the  penal  statutes,  which  they  are 
called  upon  to  put  in  execution.  It  at  once  illus- 
trates," says  he,  "  the  true  grounds  and  reasons  of  all 
capital  punishments  whatsoever,  namely,  that  every 
man's  property,  as  well  as  his  life,  may  be  held  sacred 
and  inviolate."  Is  there  then  no  difference  in  value 
between  property  and  life?  If  I  think  it  right,  that 
the  crime  of  murder  should  be  punished  with  death, 
not  only  as  an  equal  punishment  of  the  crime,  but  to 
prevent  other  murders,  does  it  follow  that  I  must  ap- 
prove of  inflicting  the  same  punishment  for  a  little 
invasion  on  my  property  by  theft  ?  If  I  am  not  myself 
so  barbarous,  so  bloody-minded  and  revengeful,  as  to 

VOL.    II.  31 


482  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

kill  a  fellow-creature  for  stealing  from  me  fourteen  shil- 
lings and  threepence,  how  can  I  approve  of  a  law  that 
does  it  ?  Montesquieu,  who  was  himself  a  judge,  en- 
deavours to  impress  other  maxims.  He  must  have 
known  what  humane  judges  feel  on  such  occasions, 
and  what  the  effects  of  those  feelings  ;  and,  so  far  from 
thinking  that  severe  and  excessive  punishments  pre- 
vent crimes,  he  asserts,  as  quoted  by  our  French  wri- 
ter, that 

L'atrocite  des  loix  en  empeche  Pexecution. 

Lorsque  la  peine  est  sans  mesure,  on  est  souvent 
oblige  de  lui  preferer  fimpunite. 

La  cause  de  torn  les  reldchemens  vient  de  Vimpu- 
nite  des  crimes,  et  non  de  la  moderation  des  peines"  * 

It  is  said  by  those  who  know  Europe  generally, 
that  there  are  more  thefts  committed  and  punished  an- 
nually in  England,  than  in  all  the  other  nations  put  to- 
gether. If  this  be  so,  there  must  be  a  cause  or  causes 
for  such  depravity  in  your  common  people.  May  not 
one  be  the  deficiency  of  justice  and  morality  in  your  na- 
tional government,  manifested  in  your  oppressive  con- 
duct to  your  subjects,  and  unjust  wars  on  your  neigh- 
bours? View  the  long-persisted  in,  unjust  monopo- 
lizing treatment  of  Ireland  at  length  acknowledged  ? 
View  the  plundering  government  exercised  by  your 
merchants  in  the  Indies;  the  confiscating  war  made 
upon  the  American  colonies ;  and,  to  say  nothing  of 
those  upon  France  and  Spain,  view  the  late  war  upon 
Holland,  which  was  seen  by  impartial  Europe  in  no 
other  light  than  that  of  a  war  of  rapine  and  pillage ; 
the  hopes  of  an  immense  and  easy  prey  being  its  only 

*  "  The  atrocity  of  laws  prevents  their  being  executed. 

"When  the  punishment  is  excessive,  it  is  often  found  necessary  tc 
prefer  impunity. 

"The  cause  of  all  the  violations  of  the  laws  comes  from  the  impunrU 
of  crimes,  and  not  from  the  moderation  of  the  penalties." 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  483 

apparent,  and  probably  its  true  and  real  motive  and 
encouragement. 

Justice  is  as  strictly  due  between  neighbour  nations 
as  between  neighbour  citizens.  A  highwayman  is  as 
much  a  robber  when  he  plunders  in  a  gang,  as  when 
single ;  and  a  nation  that  makes  an  unjust  war,  is  only 
a  great  gang.  After  employing  your  people  in  rob- 
bing the  Dutch,  strange  is  it,  that,  being  put  out  of 
that  employ  by  peace,  they  still  continue  robbing,  and 
rob  one  another !  Piraterie,  as  the  French  call  it,  or 
privateering,  is  the  universal  bent  of  the  English  nation, 
at  home  and  abroad,  wherever  settled.  No  less  than 
seven  hundred  privateers  were,  it  is  said,  commissioned 
in  the  last  war !  These  were  fitted  out  by  merchants, 
to  prey  upon  other  merchants,  who  had  never  done 
them  any  injury.  Is  there  probably  any  one  of  those 
privateering  merchants  of  London,  who  were  so  ready 
to  rob  the  merchants  of  Amsterdam,  that  would  not 
readily  plunder  another  London  merchant  of  the  next 
street,  if  he  could  do  it  with  impunity  ?  The  avidity, 
the  alieni  appetens,  is  the  same ;  it  is  the  fear  alone  of 
the  gallows  that  makes  the  difference.  How  then  can 
a  nation,  which,  among  the  honestest  of  its  people,  has 
so  many  thieves  by  inclination,  and  whose  government 
encouraged  and  commissioned  no  less  than  seven  hun- 
dred gangs  of  robbers ;  how  can  such  a  nation  have 
the  face  to  condemn  the  crime  in  individuals,  and  hang 
up  twenty  of  them  in  a  morning?  It  naturally  puts 
one  in  mind  of  a  Newgate  anecdote.  One  of  the 
prisoners  complained,  that  in  the  night  somebody  had 
taken  his  buckles  out  of  his  shoes ;  "  What,  the  devil ! " 
says  another,  "  have  we  then  thieves  among  us  ?  It 
must  not  be  suffered ;  let  us  search  out  the  rogue,  and 
pump  him  to  death." 

There  is,  however,  one  late  instance  of  an  English 


484  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

merchant  who  will  not  profit  by  such  ill-gotten  gain. 
He  was,  it  seems,  part-owner  of  a  ship,  which  the  other 
owners  thought  fit  to  employ  as  a  letter  of  marque, 
and  which  took  a  number  of  French  prizes.  The 
booty  being  shared,  he  has  now  an  agent  here  in- 
quiring, by  an  advertisement  in  the  gazette,  for  those 
who  suffered  the  loss,  in  order  to  make  them,  as  far 
as  in  him  lies,  restitution.  This  conscientious  man  is 
a  Quaker.  The  Scotch  Presbyterians  were  formerly  as 
tender ;  for  there  is  still  extant  an  ordinance  of  the 
town-council  of  Edinburgh,  made  soon  after  the  Refor- 
mation, "  forbidding  the  purchase  of  prize  goods,  un- 
der pain  of  losing  the  freedom  of  the  burgh  for  ever, 
with  other  punishment  at  the  will  of  the  magistrate ; 
the  practice  of  making  prizes  being-  contrary  to  good 
conscience,  and  the  rule  of  treating  Christian  brethren 
as  we  would  wish  to  be  treated ;  and  such  goods  are 
not  to  be  sold  by  any  godly  men  within  this  burgh." 
The  race  of  these  godly  men  in  Scotland  is  probably 
extinct,  or  their  principles  abandoned ;  since,  as  far  as 
that  nation  had  a  hand  in  promoting  the  war  against 
the  colonies,  prizes  and  confiscations  are  believed  to 
have  been  a  considerable  motive. 

It  has  been  for  some  time  a  generally  received  opin- 
ion, that  a  military  man  is  not  to  inquire  whether  a 
war  be  just  or  unjust ;  he  is  to  execute  his  orders. 
All  princes  who  are  disposed  to  become  tyrants  must 
probably  approve  of  this  opinion,  and  be  willing  to 
establish  it ;  but  is  it  not  a  dangerous  one  ?  since,  on 
that  principle,  if  the  tyrant  commands  his  army  to 
attack  and  destroy,  not  only  an  unoffending  neighbour 
nation,  but  even  his  own  subjects,  the  army  is  bound 
to  obey.  A  negro  slave,  in  our  colonies,  being  com- 
manded by  his  master  to  rob  or  murder  a  neighbour, 
or  do  any  other  immoral  act,  may  refuse,  and  the 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  485 

magistrate  will  protect  him  in  his  refusal.  The  slavery 
then  of  a  soldier  is  worse  than  that  of  a  negro  !  A  con- 
scientious officer,  if  not  restrained  by  the  apprehension 
of  its  being  imputed  to  another  cause,  may  indeed 
resign,  rather  than  be  employed  in  an  unjust  war ;  but 
the  private  men  are  slaves  for  life ;  and  they  are  per- 
haps incapable  of  judging  for  themselves.  We  can 
only  lament  their  fate,  and  still  more  that  of  a  sailor, 
who  is  often  dragged  by  force  from  his  honest  occupa- 
tion, and  compelled  to  imbrue  his  hands  in,  perhaps, 
innocent  blood. 

But  methinks  it  well  behoves  merchants  (men  more 
enlightened  by  their  education,  and  perfectly  free  from 
any  such  force  or  obligation,)  to  consider  well  of  the  jus- 
tice of  a  war,  before  they  voluntarily  engage  a  gang  of 
ruffians  to  attack  their  fellow  merchants  of  a  neigh- 
bouring nation,  to  plunder  them  of  their  property,  and 
perhaps  ruin  them  and  their  families,  if  they  yield  it ; 
or  to  wound,  maim,  or  murder  them,  if  they  endeavour 
to  defend  it.  Yet  these  things  are  done  by  Christian 
merchants,  whether  a  war  be  just  or  unjust ;  and  it 
can  hardly  be  just  on  both  sides.  They  are  done  by 
English  and  American  merchants,  who,  nevertheless, 
complain  of  private  theft,  and  hang  by  dozens  the 
thieves  they  have  taught  by  their  own  example. 

It  is  high  time,  for  the  sake  of  humanity,  that  a 
stop  were  put- to  this  enormity.  The  United  States  of 
America,  though  better  situated  than  any  European 
nation  to  make  profit  by  privateering  (most  of  the 
trade  of  Europe,  with  the  West  Indies,  passing  before 
their  doors),  are,  as  far  as  in  them  lies,  endeavouring 
to  abolish  the  practice,  by  offering,  in  all  their  treaties 
with  other  powers,  an  article,  engaging  solemnly,  that,  in 
case  of  future  war,  no  privateer  shall  be  commissioned  on 
either  side ;  and  that  unarmed  merchant-ships,  on  both 


486  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

sides,  shall  pursue  their  voyages  unmolested.*  This  will 
be  a  happy  improvement  of  the  law  of  nations.  The 
humane  and  the  just  cannot  but  wish  general  success  to 
the  proposition.  With  unchangeable  esteem  and  affec- 
tion, ever  yours, 

B.  FRANKLIN. 

*  This  offer  having  been  accepted  by  the  late  King  of  Prussia,  a  treaty 
of  amity  and  commerce  was  concluded  between  that  monarch  and  the 
United  States,  containing  the  following  humane,  philanthropic  article ;  in 
the  formation  of  which  Dr.  Franklin,  as  one  of  the  American  plenipotentia- 
ries, was  principally  concerned,  viz. 

ART.  XXIII. 

« If  war  should  arise  between  the  two  contracting  parties,  the  merchants 
of  either  country,  then  residing  in  the  other,  shall  be  allowed  to  remain 
nine  months  to  collect  their  debts  and  settle  their  affairs,  and  may  de- 
part freely,  carrying  off  all  their  effects  without  molestation  or  hin- 
drance ;  and  all  women  and  children,  scholars  of  every  faculty,  cultiva- 
tors of  the  earth,  artisans,  manufacturers,  and  fishermen,  unarmed  and 
inhabiting  unfortified  towns,  villages,  or  places,  and  in  general  all  others, 
whose  occupations  are  for  the  common  subsistence  and  benefit  of  man- 
kind, shall  be  allowed  to  continue  their  respective  employments,  and 
shall  not  be  molested  in  their  persons,  nor  shall  their  houses  and  goods 
be  burnt,  or  otherwise  destroyed,  nor  their  fields  wasted,  by  the  armed 
force  of  the  enemy  into  whose  power,  by  the  events  of  war,  they  may 
happen  to  fall ;  but,  if  any  thing  is  necessary  to  be  taken  from  them 
for  the  use  of  such  armed  force,  the  same  shall  be  paid  for  at  a  rea«on- 
able  price.  And  all  merchants  and  trading  vessels  employed  in  ex- 
changing the  products  of  different  places,  and  thereby  rendering  the 
necessaries,  conveniences,  and  comforts  of  human  life  more  easy  to 
be  obtained,  and  more  general,  shall  be  allowed  to  pass  free  and  un 
molested;  and  neither  of  the  contracting  powers  shall  f-ant  or  issue 
any  commission  to  any  private  armed  vessels,  empowe'  02  them  to 
take  or  destroy  such  trading  vessels,  or  interrupt  such 
W.  T.  F. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  487 


OBSERVATIONS    ON    WAR. 

BY  the  original  law  of  nations,  war  and  extirpation 
were  the  punishment  of  injury.  Humanizing  by  degrees, 
it  admitted  slavery  instead  of  death ;  a  farther  step  was, 
the  exchange  of  prisoners  instead  of  slavery ;  another,  to 
respect  more  the  property  of  private  persons  under  con- 
quest, and  be  content  with  acquired  dominion.  Why 
should  not  this  law  of  nations  go  on  improving  ?  Ages 
have  intervened  between  its  several  steps ;  but  as  know- 
ledge of  late  increases  rapidly,  why  should  not  those  steps 
be  quickened  ?  Why  should  it  not  be  agreed  to,  as  the 
future  law  of  nations,  that  in  any  war  hereafter,  the  fol- 
lowing description  of  men  should  be  undisturbed,  have 
the  protection  of  both  sides,  and  be  permitted  to  follow 
their  employments  in  security  ?  viz. 

1.  Cultivators  of  the  earth,  because  they  labor  for  the 
subsistence  of  mankind. 

2.  Fishermen,  for  the  same  reason. 

3.  Merchants  and  traders  in  unarmed  ships,  who  ac- 
commodate different  nations  by  communicating  and  ex- 
changing the  necessaries  and  conveniences  of  life. 

4.  Artists  and  mechanics,  inhabiting  and  working  in 
open  towns. 

It  is  hardly  necessary  to  add,  that  the  hospitals  of 
enemies  should  be  unmolested;  —  they  ought  to  be 
assisted.  It  is  for  the  interest  of  humanity  in  general, 
that  the  occasions  of  war,  and  the  inducements  to  it, 
should  be  diminished.  If  rapine  be  abolished,  one  of 
the  encouragements  to  war  is  taken  away ;  and  peace 
therefore  more  likely  to  continue  and  be  lasting. 

The  practice  of  robbing  merchants  on  the  high  seas,  — 
a  remnant  of  the  ancient  piracy, — though  it  may  be  ac- 
cidentally beneficial  to  particular  persons,  is  far  from 


488  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

being  profitable  to  all  engaged  in  it,  or  to  the  natior.  that 
authorizes  it.  In  the  beginning  of  a  war,  some  rich  ships 
are  surprised  and  taken.  This  encourages  the  first  ad- 
venturers to  fit  out  more  armed  vessels,  and  many  others 
to  do  the  same.  But  the  enemy  at  the  same  time  become 
more  careful,  arm  their  merchant-ships  better,  and  ren- 
der them  not  so  easy  to  be  taken ;  they  go  also  more 
under  the  protection  of  convoys.  Thus,  while  the  pri- 
vateers to  take  them  are  multiplied,  the  vessels  subject 
to  be  taken,  and  the  chances  of  profit,  are  diminished ; 
so  that  many  cruises  are  made,  wherein  the  expenses 
overgo  the  gains ;  and,  as  is  the  case  in  other  lotteries, 
though  particulars  have  got  prizes,  the  mass  of  adventur- 
ers are  losers,  the  whole  expense  of  fitting  out  all  the 
privateers  during  a  war  being  much  greater  than  the 
whole  amount  of  goods  taken. 

Then  there  is  the  national  loss  of  all  the  labor  of  so 
many  men  during  the  tune  they  have  been  employed  in 
robbing,  who,  besides  spend  what  they  get  in  riot,  drunk- 
enness, and  debauchery,  lose  their  habits  of  industry,  are 
rarely  fit  for  any  sober  business  after  a  peace,  and  serve 
only  to  increase  the  number  of  highwaymen  and  house- 
breakers. Even  the  undertakers,  who  have  been  fortu- 
nate, are  by  sudden  wealth  led  into  expensive  living,  the 
habit  of  which  continues,  when  the  means  of  supporting 
it  cease,  and  finally  ruins  them ;  a  just  punishment  for 
their  having  wantonly  and  unfeelingly  ruined  many 
honest,  innocent  traders  and  their  families,  whose  sub- 
stance was  employed  in  serving  the  common  interest  of 
mankind. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  4 

ON    THE 

ELECTIVE    FRANCHISES 
ENJOYED  BY  THE  SMALL  BOROUGHS  IN  ENGLAND. 


Addressed  to  Sir  Charles  Wyvill,  and  accompanied  by  the  follow- 
ing note  to  him  from  the  author,  dated  Passy,  June  16th,  1785.  — 
"  I  send  you  herewith  the  sketch  I  promised  you.  Perhaps  there 
may  be  some  use  in  publishing  it;  for,  if  the  power  of  choosing 
now  in  the  boroughs  continues  to  be  allowed  as  a  right,  they  may 
think  themselves  more  justifiable  in  demanding  more  for  it,  or  hold- 
ing back  longer,  than  they  would,  if  they  find  that  it  begins  to  be 
considered  as  an  abuse."  —  EDITOR. 


No  man,  or  body  of  men,  in  any  nation,  can  have  a 
just  right  to  any  privilege  or  franchise  not  common  to  the 
rest  of  the  nation,  without  having  done  the  nation  some 
service  equivalent,  for  which  the  franchise  or  privilege 
was  the  recompense  or  consideration. 

No  man,  or  body  of  men,  can  be  justly  deprived  of  a 
common  right,  but  for  some  equivalent  offence  or  injury 
done  to  the  society  in  which  he  enjoyed  that  right. 

If  a  number  of  men  are  unjustly  deprived  of  a  common 
right,  and  the  same  is  given  in  addition  to  the  common 
rights  of  another  number,  who  have  not  merited  such 
addition,  the  injustice  is  double. 

Few,  if  any,  of  the  boroughs  in  England,  ever  per- 
formed any  such  particular  service  to  the  nation,  entitling 
them  to  what  they  now  claim  as  a  privilege  in  elections. 

Originally,  in  England,  when  the  King  issued  his 
writs  calling  upon  counties,  cities,  and  boroughs,  to 


490  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

depute  persons  who  should  meet  him  in  Parliament, 
the  intention  was  to  obtain  by  that  means  more  per- 
fect information  of  the  general  state  of  the  kingdom,  its 
faculties,  strength,  and  disposition;  together  with  the 
advice  their  accumulated  wisdom  might  afford  him  in 
"such  arduous  affairs  of  the  realm"  as  he  had  to  pro- 
pose. And  he  might  reasonably  hope,  that  measures 
approved  by  the  deputies  in  such  an  assembly  would, 
on  their  return  home,  be  by  them  well  explained,  and 
rendered  agreeable  to  their  constituents  and  the  na- 
tion in  general.  At  that  time,  being  sent  to  Parliament 
was  not  considered  as  being  put  into  the  way  of  pre- 
ferment, or  increase  of  fortune ;  therefore  no  bribe  was 
given  to  obtain  the  appointment.  The  deputies  were 
to  be  paid  wages  by  their  constituents;  therefore  the 
being  obliged  to  send  and  pay  was  considered  rather 
as  a  duty  than  a  privilege.  At  this  day,  in  New  Eng- 
land, many  towns,  who  may  and  ought  to  send  mem- 
bers to  the  Assembly,  sometimes  neglect  to  do  it;  they 
are  then  summoned  to  answer  for  their  neglect,  and 
fined  if  they  cannot  give  a  good  excuse ;  such  as  some 
common  misfortune,  or  some  extraordinary  public  ex- 
pense, which  disabled  them  from  affording,  conveniently, 
the  necessary  wages.  And,  the  wages  allowed  being 
barely  sufficient  to  defray  the  deputy's  expense,  no 
solicitations  are  used  to  be  chosen. 

In  England,  as  soon  as  the  being  sent  to  Parliament 
was  found  to  be  a  step  towards  acquiring  both  honor 
and  fortune,  solicitations  were  practised,  and,  where  they 
were  insufficient,  money  was  given.  Both  the  ambitious 
and  avaricious  became  candidates.  But  to  solicit  the 
poor  laborer  for  his  vote  being  humiliating  to  the  proud 
man,  and  to  pay  for  it  hurting  the  lover  of  money,  they, 
when  they  met,  joined  in  an  act  to  diminish  both  these 
inconveniences,  by  depriving  the  poor  of  the  right  of 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  491 

noting,  which  certainly  they  were  not  empowered  to 
do  by  the  electors  their  constituents,  the  majority  of 
whom  were  probably  people  of  little  property.  The  act 
was,  therefore,  not  only  unjust,  but  void.  These  lower 
people  were,  immediately  afterwards,  oppressed  by 
another  act,  empowering  the  justices  to  fix  the  hire  of 
day-laborers  and  their  hours  of  work,  and  to  send  them 
to  the  house  of  correction  if  they  refused  to  work  for 
such  hire;  which  was  deposing  them  from  their  con- 
dition of  freemen,  and  making  them  literally  slaves. 

But  this  was  taking  from  many  freemen  a  common 
right,  and  confirming  it  to  a  few.  To  give  it  back 
again  to  the  many  is  a  different  operation.  Of  this  the 
few  have  no  just  cause  to  complain,  because  they  still 
retain  the  common  right  they  always  had,  and  they 
lose  only  the  exclusive  additional  power  which  they 
ought  never  to  have  had.  And  if  they  used  it,  when 
they  had  it,  as  a  means  of  obtaining  money,  they  should 
in  justice,  were  it  practicable,  be  obliged  to  refund 
and  distribute  such  money  among  those  who  had  been 
so  unjustly  deprived  of  their  right  of  voting,  or  forfeit 
it  to  the  public. 

Corporations,  therefore,  or  boroughs,  who,  from  being 
originally  called  to  send  deputies  to  Parliament,  when 
it  was  considered  merely  as  a  duty,  and  not  as  a  par- 
ticular privilege,  and  therefore  was  never  purchased 
by  any  equivalent  service  to  the  public,  continue  to 
send,  now  that  by  a  change  of  times  it  affords  them 
profit  in  bribes,  or  emoluments  of  various  kinds,  have 
in  reality  no  right  to  such  advantages ;  which  are  be- 
sides in  effect  prejudicial  to  the  nation,  some  of  those 
who  buy  thinking  they  may  also  sell. 

They  should  therefore,  in  justice,  be  immediately 
deprived  of  such  pretended  right,  and  reduced  to  the 
condition  of  common  freemen. 


492  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

But  they  are  perhaps  too  strong,  and  their  interest  too 
weighty,  to  permit  such  justice  to  be  done.  And  a  re- 
gard for  public  good  in  these  people,  influencing  a  vol- 
untary resignation,  is  not  to  be  expected. 

If  that  be  the  case,  it  may  be  necessary  to  submit  to 
the  power  of  present  circumstances,  passions,  and  preju- 
dices, and  purchase,  since  we  can  do  no  better,  their 
consent ;  as  men,  when  they  cannot  otherwise  recover 
property  unjustly  detained  from  them,  advertise  a  re- 
ward to  whoever  will  restore  it,  promising  that  no  ques- 
tions shall  be  asked. 


SIR  CHARLES  WYVILL'S  ANSWER  TO  THE  FOREGOING 
PAPER. 

Paris,  17  June,  1785. 

SIR, 

1  have  received  the  honor  of  your  letter  of  the  1 6th 
instant,  accompanied  with  a  paper,  in  which  you  have 
proved,  by  a  short  train  of  clear  and  satisfactory  reason- 
ing, that  the  elective  franchise,  now  enjoyed  by  the  small 
boroughs  in  England,  is  not  an  absolute  right,  which  can 
only  be  forfeited  on  condition  of  misusage,  but  that  it  is 
a  privilege  conferred  upon  them  in  different  periods  of 
our  history  with  partiality,  and  in  a  manner  injurious  to 
the  common  right  of  representation ;  and  consequently, 
that  it  is  a  privilege  justly  resumable  by  the  state,  with- 
out the  consent  of  such  boroughs  previously  obtained, 
without  any  previous  proof  of  their  delinquency,  or  any 
compensation  for  their  abolished  franchise ;  at  the  same 
time,  you  have  admitted  the  expediency,  in  the  present 
state  of  our  constitution,  and  under  the  various  disadvan- 
tages attending  an  attempt  to  restore  it,  that  a  pecuniary 
offer  should  be  proposed,  as  an  inducement  to  the  small 
boroughs  to  make  a  voluntary  surrender  of  their  obnox- 
ious privilege. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  493 

Accept,  Sir,  my  best  thanks  for  this  very  kind  commu- 
nication of  your  sentiments  on  a  subject  of  much  impor- 
tance to  the  happiness  of  England.  From  their  own  in- 
trinsic solidity,  those  sentiments_must  have  great  weight 
with  every  unprejudiced  mind,  even  if  it  should  not  be 
thought  advisable  to  apprize  the  public.  They  are  the 
sentiments  of  a  man  to  whose  ability  and  persevering 
virtue  the  American  States  are  principally  indebted  for 
their  political  salvation.  But,  highly  as  I  esteem  the  wis- 
dom of  your  opinion  and  advice,  I  place  a  still  higher 
value  on  that  philanthropy,  which  has  induced  you  to 
bestow  so  much  attention  on  this  subject,  in  the  midst  of 
your  many  urgent  avocations,  when  just  on  the  point  of 
leaving  Europe  to  return  to  America ;  I  consider  this,  not 
only  as  a  mark  of  your  general  benevolence,  but  as  a  proof 
that  your  peculiar  good-will  to  England,  lately  our  com- 
mon country,  has  neither  been  diminished  by  any  per- 
sonal disgust,  nor  impaired  by  the  hostilities  of  an  unhap- 
py civil  war.  And  I  trust  that,  on  this  occasion,  your 
benevolence  has  not  been  misplaced ;  since  the  advocates 
for  a  reformation  of  the  English  Parliament  have  been, 
I  believe,  without  exception,  zealous  opponents  of  the 
American  war ;  and  the  success  of  their  attempt  to  im- 
prove the  constitution  of  England  may  possibly  conduct 
our  two  countries,  in  due  time,  to  that  modified  reunion 
which  recent  events  will  admit,  and  which  you  seem  to 
agree  with  me  in  thinking  would  be  equally  honorable 
and  advantageous  to  both. 

I  am,  with  the  highest  respect,  your  obliged  and 
most  obedient  servant, 

C.  WYVILL. 


494  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

MILITIA  PREFERABLE  TO  REGULAR  TROOPS. 

Abbfe  Morellet's  Questions  and  B.  Franklin's  Answers. 

"  Je  prie  Monsieur  Franklin  de  vouloir  bien  repondre 
aux  questions  suivantes — by  a  yes  or  wo. 

Croit-il  que  les  Etats  Unis  puissent  dans  la  suite  et 
apr£s  leur  independance  reconnue  se  passer  de  troupes 
regulieres  toujours  sur  pied?" — Yes. 

"  Feront-ils  mieux  de  n'avoir  que  des  milices  nation- 
ales?" —  Certainly. 

"  Des  milices  couteront-elles  moins  cher  a  1'etat  ou 
plutot  a  la  nation ;  car  ne  peut-on  pas  dire,  que,  dans  un 
etat  de  choses  ou  tous  les  citoyens  doivent  s'exercer  a 
porter  les  armes,  il  y  a  en  fin  de  compte,  en  perte  de 
terns,  en  depenses  pour  l'armement,  pour  1'habillement, 
pour  le  rassemblement  des  troupes  a  certains  terns  de 
1'annee,  &,c.,  une  depense  reelle  plus  grande  que  celle 
qu'il  faudroit  pour  tenir  sur  pied  un  petit  nombre  de 
troupes  regulieres  ?  " 

Supposing  a  general  militia  to  be  equally  expensive 
with  a  body  of  regular  troops,  yet  the  militia  is  prefera- 
ble ;  because  the  whole,  being  especially  disciplined,  has 
nothing  to  fear  from  a  part. 

"  Monsieur  Franklin  croit-il  qu'on  puisse  entretenir  en 
Amerique  un  corps  de  troupes  sur  pied  dans  chaque 
province  confederee  sans  mettre  la  liberte  en  danger?" 

Europe  was  without  regular  troops  till  lately.  One 
powerful  prince  keeping  an  army  always  on  foot  makes  it 
necessary  for  his  neighbour  to  do  the  same  to  prevent 
surprise.  We  have  no  such  dangerous  neighbours  in 
America.  We  shall  probably  keep  magazines  of  arms 
and  ammunition  always  filled,  and  no  European  power 
will  ever  find  us  so  unprovided  as  England  found  us  at 


POLITICAL   ECONOMY.  495 

the  beginning  of  this  war,  or  can  prepare  to  invade  us 
with  a  sufficient  force  in  so  short  a  time  as  not  to  give  us 
time  sufficient  to  discipline  force  sufficient  to  repel  the 
invader. 

Mr.  F.  therefore  thinks,  that,  to  avoid  not  only  the 
expense,  but  the  danger  of  keeping  up  a  body  of  regular 
troops  in  time  of  peace,  none  of  the  States  separately  will 
do  it,  nor  the  Congress  for  the  whole. 


ON    SENDING    FELONS   TO    AMERICA. 

FROM  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  GAZETTE. 

SIR, 

WE  may  all  remember  the  time  when  our  mother 
country,  as  a  mark  of  her  parental  tenderness,  emptied 
her  gaols  into  our  habitations,  "for  the  BETTER  peo- 
pling" as  she  expressed  it,  "of  the  colonies"  It  is 
certain  that  no  due  returns  have  yet  been  made  for 
these  valuable  consignments.  We  are  therefore  much 
in  her  debt  on  that  account;  and,  as  she  is  of  late 
clamorous  for  the  payment  of  all  we  owe  her,  and 
some  of  our  debts  are  of  a  kind  not  so  easily  dis- 
charged, I  am  for  doing  however  what  is  in  our 
power.  It  will  show  our  good- will  as  to  the  rest. 
The  felons  she  planted  among  us  have  produced 
such  an  amazing  increase,  that  we  are  now  enabled 
to  make  ample  remittance  in  the  same  commodity. 
And  since  the  wheelbarrow  law  is  not  found  effectually 
to  reform  them,  and  many  of  our  vessels  are  idle  through 
her  restraints  on  our  trade,  why  should  we  not  employ 
those  vessels  in  transporting  the  felons  to  Britain  ? 

I  was  led  into  this  thought  by  perusing  the  copy 
of  a  petition  to  Parliament,  which  fell  lately  by  accident 


496  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

into  my  hands.  It  has  no  date,  but  I  conjecture  from 
some  circumstances,  that  it  must  have  been  about  the 
year  1767  or  1768.  (It  seems,  if  presented,  it  had  no 
effect,  since  the  act  passed.)  I  imagine  it  may  not  be 
unacceptable  to  your  readers,  and  therefore  transcribe 
it  for  your  paper ;  viz. 

To    the    Honorable   the    Knights,  Citizens,  and  Bur- 
gesses of  Great  Britain,  in  Parliament  assembled, 

The  PETITION  of  B.  F.,  Agent  for   the  Province  of 
Pennsylvania ; 

Most  humbly  showeth ; 

That  the  transporting  of  felons  from  England  to  the 
plantations  in  America,  is,  and  hath  long  been,  a  great 
grievance  to  the  said  plantations  in  general. 

That  the  said  felons,  being  landed  in  America,  not 
only  continue  their  evil  practices  to  the  annoyance  of 
his  Majesty's  good  subjects  there,  but  contribute  greatly 
to  corrupt  the  morals  of  the  servants  and  poorer  people 
among  whom  they  are  mixed. 

That  many  of  the  said  felons  escape  from  the  servi- 
tude to  which  they  were  destined,  into  other  colonies, 
where  their  condition  is  not  known ;  and,  wandering  at 
large  from  one  populous  town  to  another,  commit  many 
burglaries,  robberies,  and  murders,  to  the  great  terror 
of  the  people ;  and  occasioning  heavy  charges  for  ap- 
prehending and  securing  such  felons,  and  bringing 
them  to  justice. 

That  your  petitioner  humbly  conceives  the  easing 
one  part  of  the  British  dominions  of  their  felons,  by  bur- 
thening  another  part  with  the  same  felons,  cannot 
increase  the  common  happiness  of  his  Majesty's  sub- 
jects, and  that  therefore  the  trouble  and  expense  of 
transporting  them  is  upon  the  whole  altogether  use- 
less. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  497 

That  your  petitioner,  nevertheless,  observes  with 
extreme  concern  in  the  votes  of  Friday  last,  that  leave 
is  given  to  bring  in  a  bill  for  extending  to  Scotland, 
the  act  made  in  the  fourth  year  of  the  reign  of  King 
George  the  First,  whereby  the  aforesaid  grievances  are, 
as  he  understands,  to  be  greatly  increased  by  allowing 
Scotland  also  to  transport  its  felons  to  America. 

Your  petitioner  therefore  humbly  prays,  in  behalf  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  the  other  plantations  in  America,  that 
the  House  would  take  the  premises  into  consideration, 
and  in  their  great  wisdom  and  goodness  repeal  all  acts, 
and  clauses  of  acts,  for  transporting  of  felons;  or,  if 
this  may  not  at  present  be  done,  that  they  would  at 
least  reject  the  proposed  bill  for  extending  the  said  acts 
to  Scotland;  or,  if  it  be  thought  fit  to  allow  of  such 
extension,  that  then  the  said  extension  may  be  carried 
further,  and  the  plantations  be  also,  by  an  equitable 
clause  in  the  same  bill,  permitted  to  transport  their 
felons  to  Scotland. 

And  your  petitioner,  as  in  duty  bound,  shall  pray,  &c. 

The  petition,  I  am  informed,  was  not  received  by  the 
House,  and  the  act  passed. 

On  second  thoughts,  I  am  of  opinion,  that  besides 
employing  our  own  vessels,  as  above  proposed,  every 
English  ship  arriving  in  our  ports  with  goods  for  sale, 
should  be  obliged  to  give  bond,  before  she  is  permitted 
to  trade,  engaging  that  she  will  carry  back  to  Britain 
at  least  one  felon  for  every  fifty  tons  of  her  burthen. 
Thus  we  shall  not  only  discharge  sooner  our  debts, 
but  furnish  our  old  friends  with  the  means  of  "better 
peopling"  and  with  more  expedition,  their  promising 
new  colony  of  Botany  Bay. 

I  am  yours,  &c.  A.  Z. 

VOL.  II.  32 


496  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 


THE    RETORT    COURTEOUS. 

"  John  Oxly,  pawnbroker  of  Bethnal  Green,  was  indicted  for 
assaulting  Jonathan  Boldsworth  on  the  highway,  putting  him  in 
fear,  and  taking  from  him  one  silver  watch,  value  5/.  5s.  The 
prisoner  pleaded,  that,  having  sold  the  watch  to  the  prosecutor, 
and  being  immediately  after  informed  by  a  person  who  knew 
him,  that  he  was  not  likely  to  pay  for  the  same,  he  had  only 
followed  him  and  taken  the  watch  back  again.  But,  it  appearing 
on  the  trial,  that,  presuming  he  had  not  been  known  when  he 
committed  the  robbery,  he  had  afterwards  sued  the  prosecutor 
for  the  debt,  on  his  note  of  hand,  he  was  found  guilty,  death." 
Old  Bailey  Sessions  Paper,  1747. 

I  CHOSE  the  above  extract  from  the  proceedings  of 
the  Old  Bailey  in  the  trial  of  criminals,  as  a  motto  or  text, 
on  which  to  amplify  in  my  ensuing  discourse.  But  on 
second  thoughts,  having  given  it  forth,  I  shall,  after  the 
example  of  some  other  preachers,  quit  it  for  the  pres- 
ent, and  leave  to  my  readers,  if  I  should  happen  to 
have  any,  the  task  of  discovering  what  relation  there 
may  possibly  be  between  my  text  and  my  sermon. 

During  some  years  past,  the  British  newspapers  have 
been  filled  with  reflections  on  the  inhabitants  of  Amer- 
ica, for  not  paying  their  old  debts  to  English  merchants. 
And  from  these  papers  the  same  reflections  have  been 
translated  into  foreign  prints,  and  circulated  throughout 
Europe;  whereby  the  American  character,  respecting 
honor,  probity,  and  justice  in  commercial  transactions, 
is  made  to  suffer  in  the  opinion  of  strangers,  which  may 
be  attended  with  pernicious  consequences. 

At  length  we  are  told  that  the  British  court  has 
taken  up  the  complaint,  and  seriously  offered  it  as  a 
reason  for  refusing  to  evacuate  the  frontier  posts  accord- 
ing to  treaty.  This  gives  a  kind  of  authority  to  the 
charge,  and  makes  it  now  more  necessary  to  examine 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  499 

the  matter  thoroughly ;  to  inquire  impartially  into  the 
conduct  of  both  nations ;  take  blame  to  ourselves  where 
we  have  merited  it ;  and,  where  it  may  be  fairly  done, 
mitigate  the  severity  of  the  censures  that  are  so  liberally 
bestowed  upon  us. 

We  may  begin  by  observing,  that  before  the  war 
our  mercantile  character  was  good.  In  proof  of  this 
(and  a  stronger  proof  can  hardly  be  desired),  the  votes 
of  the  House  of  Commons  in  1774-5  have  recorded  a 
petition  signed  by  the  body  of  the  merchants  of  London 
trading  to  North  America,  in  which  they  expressly  set 
forth,  not  only  that  the  trade  was  profitable  to  the  king- 
dom, but  that  the  remittances  and  payments  were  as 
punctually  and  faithfully  made,  as  in  any  other  branch 
of  commerce  whatever.  These  gentlemen  were  cer- 
tainly competent  judges,  and  as  to  that  point  could 
have  no  interest  in  deceiving  the  government. 

The  making  of  these  punctual  remittances  was 
however  a  difficulty.  Britain,  acting  on  the  selfish 
and  perhaps  mistaken  principle  of  receiving  nothing 
from  abroad  that  could  be  produced  at  home,  would 
take  no  articles  of  our  produce  that  interfered  with 
any  of  her  own ;  and  what  did  not  interfere,  she 
loaded  with  heavy  duties.  We  had  no  mines  of  gold 
or  silver.  We  were  therefore  obliged  to  run  the  world 
over,  in  search  of  something  that  would  be  received 
in  England.  We  sent  our  provisions  and  lumber  to 
the  West  Indies,  where  exchange  was  made  for  sugars, 
cotton,  &,c.  to  remit.  We  brought  molasses  from 
thence,  distilled  it  into  rum,  with  which  we  traded 
in  Africa,  and  remitted  the  gold  dust  to  England. 
We  employed  ourselves  in  the  fisheries,  and  sent  the 
fish  we  caught,  together  with  quantities  of  wheat,  flour, 
and  rice,  to  Spain  and  Portugal,  from  whence  the 
amount  was  remitted  to  England  in  cash  or  bills  of 


500  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

exchange.  Great  quantities  of  our  rice,  too,  went  to 
Holland,  Hamburg,  &c.,  and  the  value  of  that  was  also 
sent  to  Britain.  Add  to  this,  that  contenting  our- 
selves with  paper,  all  the  hard  money  we  could  pos- 
sibly pick  up  among  the  foreign  West  India  Islands, 
was  continually  sent  off  to  Britain,  not  a  ship  going 
thither  from  America  without  some  chests  of  those 
precious  metals. 

Imagine  this  great  machine  of  mutually  advantageous 
commerce,  going  roundly  on,  in  full  train;  our  ports  all 
busy,  receiving  and  selling  British  manufactures,  and 
equipping  ships  for  the  circuitous  trade,  that  was  finally 
to  procure  the  necessary  remittances;  the  seas  cov- 
ered with  those  ships,  and  with  several  hundred  sail 
of  our  fishermen,  all  working  for  Britain ;  and  then  let 
us  consider  what  effect  the  conduct  of  Britain,  in  1774 
and  1775  and  the  following  years,  must  naturally  have 
on  the  future  ability  of  our  merchants  to  make  the 
payments  in  question. 

We  will  not  here  enter  into  the  motives  of  that 
conduct ;  they  are  well  enough  known,  and  not  to  her 
honor.  The  first  step  was  shutting  up  the  port  of 
Boston  by  an  act  of  Parliament;  the  next,  to  prohibit 
by  another  the  New  England  fishery.  An  army  and 
a  fleet  were  sent  to  enforce  these  acts.  Here  was  a 
stop  put  at  once  to  all  the  mercantile  operations  of 
one  of  the  greatest  trading  cities  of  America ;  the  fish- 
ing vessels  all  laid  up,  and  the  usual  remittances,  by 
way  of  Spain,  Portugal,  and  the  Straits,  rendered  im- 
possible. Yet  the  cry  was  now  begun  against  us, 
These  New  England  people  do  not  pay  their  debts ! 

The  ships  of  the  fleet  employed  themselves  in  cruis- 
ing separately  all  along  the  coast.  The  marine  gentry 
are  seldom  so  well  contented  with  their  pay,  as  not 
to  like  a  little  plunder.  They  stopped  and  seized. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  501 

under  slight  pretences,  the  American  vessels  they  met 
with,  belonging  to  whatever  colony.  This  checked  the 
commerce  of  them  all.  Ships,  loaded  with  cargoes 
destined  either  directly  or  indirectly  to  make  remit- 
tance in  England,  were  not  spared.  If  the  differences 
between  the  two  countries  had  been  then  accommo- 
dated, these  unauthorized  plunderers  would  have  been 
called  to  account,  and  many  of  their  exploits  must  have 
been  found  piracy.  But  what  cured  all  this,  set  their 
minds  at  ease,  made  short  work,  and  gave  full  scope 
to  their  piratical  disposition,  was  another  act  of  Parlia- 
ment, forbidding  any  inquisition  into  those  past  facts, 
declaring  them  all  lawful,  and  all  American  property 
to  be  forfeited,  whether  on  sea  or  land,  and  authorizing 
the  King's  British  subjects  to  take,  seize,  sink,  burn, 
or  destroy,  whatever  they  could  find  of  it.  The  prop- 
erty suddenly,  and  by  surprise  taken  from  our  mer- 
chants by  the  operation  of  this  act,  is  incomputable. 
And  yet  the  cry  did  not  diminish,  These  Jlmericans 
don't  pay  their  debts  ! 

Had  the  several  states  of  America,  on  the  publication 
of  this  act  seized  all  British  property  in  their  power, 
whether  consisting  of  lands  in  their  country,  ships  in 
their  harbours,  or  debts  in  the  hands  of  their  mer- 
chants, by  way  of  retaliation,  it  is  probable  a  great 
part  of  the  world  would  have  deemed  such  conduct 
justifiable.  They,  it  seems,  thought  otherwise,  and  it 
was  done  only  in  one  or  two  States,  and  that  under 
particular  circumstances  of  provocation.  And  not  hav- 
ing thus  abolished  all  demands,  the  cry  subsists,  that 
the  Americans  should  pay  their  debts  ! 

General  Gage,  being  with  his  army  (before  the  de- 
claration of  open  war)  in  peaceable  possession  of 
Boston,  shut  its  gates,  and  placed  guards  all  around 
to  prevent  its  communication  with  the  country.  The 


502  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

inhabitants  were  on  the  point  of  starving.  The  general, 
though  they  were  evidently  at  his  mercy,  fearing  that, 
while  they  had  any  prms  in  their  hands,  frantic  despera- 
tion might  possibly  do  him  some  mischief,  proposed 
to  them  a  capitulation,  in  which  he  stipulated,  that  if 
they  would  deliver  up  their  arms,  they  might  leave  the 
town  with  their  family  and  goods.  In  faith  of  this 
agreement,  they  delivered  their  arms.  But  when  they 
began  to  pack  up  for  their  departure,  they  were  in- 
formed, that  by  the  word  goods,  the  general  understood 
only  household  goods,  that  is,  their  beds,  chairs,  and 
tables,  not  merchant  goods;  those  he  was  informed 
they  were  indebted  for  to  the  merchants  of  England, 
and  he  must  secure  them  for  the  creditors.  They  were 
accordingly  all  seized,  to  an  immense  value,  what  had 
been  paid  for  not  excepted.  It  is  to  be  supposed, 
though  we  have  never  heard  of  it,  that  this  very  hon- 
orable general,  when  he  returned  home,  made  a  just 
distribution  of  those  goods,  or  their  value,  among  the 
said  creditors.  But  the  cry  nevertheless  continued, 
These  Boston  people  do  not  pay  their  debts  ! 

The  army,  having  thus  ruined  Boston,  proceeded 
to  different  parts  of  the  continent.  They  got  posses- 
sion of  all  the  capital  trading  towns.  The  troops  gorged 
themselves  with  plunder.  They  stopped  all  the  trade 
of  Philadelphia  for  near  a  year,  of  Rhode  Island  longer, 
of  New  York  near  eight  years,  of  Charleston  in  South 
Carolina  and  Savannah  in  Georgia,  I  forget  how  long. 
This  continued  interruption  of  their  commerce  ruined 
many  merchants.  The  army  also  burnt  to  the  ground 
the  fine  towns  of  Falmouth  and  Charlestown  near 
Boston,  New  London,  Fairfield,  Norwalk,  Esopus,  Nor- 
folk, the  chief  trading  town  in  Virginia,  besides  in- 
numerable tenements  und  private  farm-houses.  This 
wanton  destruction  of  property  operated  doubly  to  the 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  503 

disabling  of  our  merchants,  who  were  importers  from 
Britain,  in  making  their  payments,  by  the  immoderate 
loss  they  sustained  themselves,  and  also  the  loss  suffered 
by  their  country  debtors,  who  had  bought  of  them 
the  British  goods,  and  who  were  now  rendered  unable 
to  pay.  The  debts  to  Britain  of  course  remained  undis- 
charged, and  the  clamor  continued,  These  knavish 
Americans  will  not  pay  us  ! 

Many  of  the  British  debts,  particularly  in  Virginia 
and  the  Carolinas,  arose  from  the  sales  made  of  negroes 
in  those  provinces  by  the  British  Guinea  merchants. 
These,  with  all  before  in  the  country,  were  employed 
when  the  war  came  on,  in  raising  tobacco  and  rice  for 
remittance  in  payment  of  British  debts.  An  order 
arrives  from  England,  advised  by  one  of  their  most 
celebrated  moralists,  Dr.  Johnson,  in  his  Taxation  no 
Tyranny,  to  excite  these  slaves  to  rise,  cut  the  throats 
of  their  purchasers,  and  resort  to  the  British  army, 
where  they  should  be  rewarded  with  freedom.  This 
was  done,  and  the  planters  were  thus  deprived  of 
near  thirty  thousand  of  their  working  people.  Yet  the 
demand  for  those  sold  and  unpaid  still  exists ;  and  the 
cry  continues  against  the  Virginians  and  Carolinians, 
that  they  do  not  pay  their  debts  ! 

Virginia  suffered  great  loss  in  this  kind  of  property 
by  another  ingenious  and  humane  British  invention. 
Having  the  small-pox  in  their  army  while  in  that  coun- 
try, they  inoculated  some  of  the  negroes  they  took  as 
prisoners  belonging  to  a  number  of  plantations,  and 
then  let  them  escape,  or  sent  them,  covered  with  the 
pock,  to  mix  with  and  spread  the  distemper  among 
the  others  of  their  color,  as  well  as  among  the  white 
country  people ;  which  occasioned  a  great  mortality  of 
both,  and  certainly  did  not  contribute  to  the  enabling 
debtors  in  making  payment.  The  war  too  having  pui 


504  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

a  stop  to  the  exportation  of  tobacco,  there  was  a  great 
accumulation  of  several  years'  produce  in  all  the  public 
inspecting  warehouses  and  private  stores  of  the  planters. 
Arnold,  Phillips,  and  Cornwallis,  with  British  troops,  then 
entered  and  overran  the  country,  burnt  all  the  in- 
specting and  other  stores  of  tobacco,  to  the  amount  of 
some  hundred  ship-loads ;  all  which  might,  on  the  re- 
turn of  peace,  if  it  had  not  been  thus  wantonly  destroyed, 
have  been  remitted  to  British  creditors.  But  these 
d — d  Virginians,  why  don't  they  pay  their  debts  1 

Paper  money  was  in  those  times  our  universal  cur- 
rency. But,  it  being  the  instrument  with  which  we 
combated  our  enemies,  they  resolved  to  deprive  us  of 
its  use  by  depreciating  it ;  and  the  most  effectual  means 
they  could  contrive  was  to  counterfeit  it.  The  artists 
they  employed  performed  so  well,  that  immense  quan- 
tities of  these  counterfeits,  which  issued  from  the  British 
government  in  New  York,  were  circulated  among  the 
inhabitants  of  all  the  States,  before  the  fraud  was  de- 
tected. This  operated  considerably  in  depreciating  the 
whole  mass,  first,  by  the  vast  additional  quantity,  and 
next  by  the  uncertainty  in  distinguishing  the  true  from 
the  false ;  and  the  depreciation  was  a  loss  to  all  and  the 
ruin  of  many.  It  is  true  our  enemies  gained  a  vast 
deal  of  our  property  by  the  operation;  but  it  did  not  go 
into  the  hands  of  our  particular  creditors ;  so  their  de- 
mands still  subsisted,  and  we  were  still  abused  for  not 
paying  our  debts  ! 

By  the  seventh  article  of  the  treaty  of  peace,  it  was 
solemnly  stipulated,  that  the  King's  troops,  in  evacua- 
ting their  posts  in  the  United  States,  should  not  carry 
away  with  them  any  negroes.  In  direct  violation  of 
this  article,  General  Carleton,  in  evacuating  New 
York,  carried  off  all  the  negroes  that  were  with  his 
army,  to  the  amount  of  several  hundreds.  It  is  not 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  505 

doubted  that  he  must  have  had  secret  orders  to  jus- 
tify him  in  this  transaction ;  but  the  reason  given  out 
was,  that,  as  they  had  quitted  their  masters  and  joined 
the  King's  troops  on  the  faith  of  proclamations  promising 
them  their  liberty,  the  national  honor  forbade  returning 
them  into  slavery.  The  national  honor  was,  it  seemed, 
pledged  to  both  parts  of  a  contradiction,  and  its  wisdom, 
since  it  could  not  do  it  with  both,  chose  to  keep  faith 
rather  with  its  old  black,  than  its  new  white  friends; 
a  circumstance  demonstrating  clear  as  daylight,  that,  in 
making  a  present  peace,  they  meditated  a  future  war, 
and  hoped,  that,  though  the  promised  manumission  of 
slaves  had  not  been  effectual  in  the  last,  in  the  next  it 
might  be  more  successful;  and  that,  had  the  negroes 
been  forsaken,  no  aid  could  be  hereafter  expected  from 
those  of  the  color  in  a  future  invasion.  The  treaty 
however  with  us  was  thus  broken  almost  as  soon  as 
mide,  and  this  by  the  people  who  charge  us  with 
breaking  it  by  not  paying  perhaps  for  some  of  the  very 
negroes  carried  off  in  defiance  of  it.  Why  should 
England  observe  treaties,  when  these  Americans  do  not 
pay  their  debts  1 

Unreasonable,  however,  as  this  clamor  appears  in 
general,  I  do  not  pretend,  by  exposing  it,  to  justify  those 
debtors  who  are  still  able  to  pay,  and  refuse  it  on  pre- 
tence of  injuries  suffered  "by  the  war.  Public  injuries  can 
never  discharge  private  obligations.  Contracts  between 
merchant  and  merchant  should  be  sacredly  observed, 
where  the  ability  remains,  whatever  may  be  the  madness 
of  ministers.  It  is  therefore  to  be  hoped  the  fourth 
article  of  the  treaty  of  peace  which  stipulates,  that  no 
legal  obstruction  shall  be  given  to  the  payment  of  debts 
contracted  before  the  war,  will  be  punctually  carried  into 
execution,  and  that  every  law  in  every  State  which 
impedes  it,  may  be  immediately  repealed.  Those  laws 


506  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

were  indeed  made  with  honest  intentions,  that  the  half- 
ruined  debtor,  not  being  too  suddenly  pressed  by  some, 
might  have  time  to  arrange  and  recover  his  affairs  so  as 
to  do  justice  to  all  his  creditors.  But,  since  the  inten- 
tion in  making  those  acts  has  been  misapprehended, 
and  the  acts  wilfully  misconstrued  into  a  design  of 
defrauding  them,  and  now  made  a  matter  of  reproach 
to  us,  I  think  it  will  be  right  to  repeal  them  all.  Indi- 
vidual Americans  may  be  rubied,  but  the  country  will 
save  by  the  operation;  since  these  unthinking,  merciless 
creditors  must  be  contented  with  all  that  is  to  be  had, 
instead  of  all  that  may  be  due  to  them,  and  the  accounts 
will  be  settled  by  insolvency.  When  all  have  paid  that 
can  pay,  I  think  the  remaining  British  creditors,  who 
suffered  by  the  inability  of  their  ruined  debtors,  have 
some  right  to  call  upon  their  own  government  (which 
by  its  bad  projects  has  ruined  those  debtors)  for  a 
compensation.  A  sum  given  by  Parliament  for  this 
purpose  would  be  more  properly  disposed,  than  in  re- 
warding pretended  loyalists,  who  fomented  the  war. 
And,  the  heavier  the  sum,  the  more  tendency  it  might 
have  to  discourage  such  destructive  projects  hereafter. 

Among  the  merchants  of  Britain,  trading  formerly  to 
America,  there  are  to  my  knowledge  many  considerate 
and  generous  men,  who  never  joined  in  this  clamor, 
and  who,  on  the  return  of  peace,  though  by  the  treaty 
entitled  to  an  immediate  suit  for  their  debts,  were  kindly 
disposed  to  give  their  debtors  reasonable  time  for  re- 
storing their  circumstances,  so  as  to  be  able  to  make 
payment  conveniently.  These  deserve  the  most  grate- 
ful acknowledgments.  And  indeed  it  was  in  their  favor, 
and  perhaps  for  their  sakes  in  favor  of  all  other  British 
creditors,  that  tie  law  of  Pennsylvania,  though  since 
much  exclaimed  against,  was  made,  restraining  the  re- 
covery of  old  debts  during  a  certain  time.  For  this 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  507 

restraint  was  general,  respecting  domestic  as  well  as 
British  debts,  it  being  thought  unfair,  in  cases  where 
there  was  not  sufficient  for  all,  that  the  inhabitants, 
taking  advantage  of  their  nearer  situation,  should  swal- 
low the  whole,  excluding  foreign  creditors  from  any 
share.  And  in  cases  where  the  favorable  part  of  the 
foreign  creditors  were  disposed  to  give  time,  with  the 
views  abovementioned,  if  others  less  humane  and  con- 
siderate were  allowed  to  bring  immediate  suits  and  ruin 
the  debtor,  those  views  would  be  defeated.  When  this 
law  expired  in  September,  1 784,  a  new  one  was  made, 
continuing  for  some  time  longer  the  restraint  with  re- 
spect to  domestic  debts,  but  expressly  taking  it  away 
where  the  debt  was  due  from  citizens  of  the  State  to 
any  of  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain;*  which  shows 
clearly  the  disposition  of  the  Assembly,  and  that  the 
fair  intentions  above  ascribed  to  them  in  making  the 
former  act,  are  not  merely  the  imagination  of  the  writer. 
Indeed,  the  clamor  has  been  much  augmented  by 
numbers  joining  it,  who  really  had  no  claim  on  our  coun- 
try. Every  debtor  in  Britain,  engaged  in  whatever 
trade,  when  he  had  no  better  excuse  to  give  for  delay 
of  payment,  accused  the  want  of  returns  from  America. 
And  the  indignation,  thus  excited  against  us,  now  ap- 
pears so  general  among  the  English,  that  one  would 
imagine  their  nation,  which  is  so  exact  in  expecting 

*  Extract  from  an  Act  of  the  General  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  enti- 
tled, "  An  Act  for  directing  the  Mode  of  recovering  Debts  contracted 
before  the  first  Day  of  January,  in  the  Year  of  our  Lord  one  thousand 
seven  hundred  and  seventy-seven." 

Exception  in  Favor  of  British  Creditors. 

"  Sect  7.  And  provided  also,  and  be  it  further  enacted  by  the  authority 
aforesaid,  that  this  Act,  nor  any  thing  therein  contained,  shall  not  extend, 
or  be  construed  to  extend,  to  any  debt  or  debts  which  were  due  before  the 
fourth  day  of  July,  one  thousand  seven  hundred  and  seventy-six,  by  any  of 
the  citizens  of  the  State,  to  any  of  the  subjects  of  Great  Britain.' 


508  FRANKLIN'S     WRITINGS. 

punctual  payment  from  all  the  rest  of  the  world,  must 
be  at  home  the  model  of  justice,  the  very  pattern  of 
punctuality.  Yet,  if  one  were  disposed  to  recriminate, 
it  would  not  be  difficult  to  find  sufficient  matter  in  sev- 
eral parts  of  their  conduct.  But  this  I  forbear.  The 
two  separate  nations  are  now  at  peace,  and  there  can 
be  no  use  in  mutual  provocations  to  fresh  enmity.  If  I 
have  shown  clearly  that  the  present  inability  of  many 
American  merchants  to  discharge  their  debts,  contracted 
before  the  war,  is  not  so  much  their  fault,  as  the  fault 
of  the  crediting  nation,  who,  by  making  an  unjust  war 
on  them,  obstructing  their  commerce,  plundering  and 
devastating  their  country,  were  the  cause  of  that  ina- 
bility, I  have  answered  the  purpose  of  writing  this 
paper.  How  far  the  refusal  of  the  British  court  to  exe- 
cute the  treaty  in  delivering  up  the  frontier  posts,  may, 
on  account  of  that  deficiency  of  payment,  be  justifia- 
ble, is  cheerfully  submitted  to  the  world's  impartial 
judgment. 


AN    ACCOUNT   OF  THE    SUPREMEST   COURT   OF  JUDICATURE 
IN  PENNSYLVANIA,  VIZ.  THE  COURT  OF  THE  PRESS. 

FROM  THE  FEDERAL  GAZETTE,  SEPTEMBER  12TH,  1789. 

Power  of  this  Court. 

IT  may  receive  and  promulgate  accusations  of  all 
kinds,  against  all  persons  and  characters  among  the  citi- 
zens of  the  State,  and  even  against  all  inferior  courts ; 
and  may  judge,  sentence,  and  condemn  to  infamy,  not 
only  private  individuals,  but  public  bodies,  &c.,  with  or 
without  inquiry  or  hearing,  at  the  court's  discretion. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  509 

In  whose  Favor  and  for  whose  Emolument  this   Court 
is  established. 

In  favor  of  about  one  citizen  in  five  hundred,  who,  by 
education  or  practice  in  scribbling,  has  acquired  a  tolera- 
ble style  as  to  grammar  and  construction,  so  as  to  bear 
printing ;  or  who  is  possessed  of  a  press  and  a  few  types 
This  five  hundredth  part  of  the  citizens  have  the  privilege 
of  accusing  and  abusing  the  other  four  hundred  and 
ninety-nine  parts  at  their  pleasure ;  or  they  may  hire  out 
their  pens  and  press  to  others  for  that  purpose. 

Practice  of  the  Court. 

It  is  not  governed  by  any  of  the  rules  of  common 
courts  of  law.  The  accused  is  allowed  no  grand  jury  to 
judge  of  the  truth  of  the  accusation  before  it  is  publicly 
made,  nor  is  the  name  of  the  accuser  made  known  to 
him,  nor  has  he  an  opportunity  of  confronting  the  wit- 
nesses against  him ;  for  they  are  kept  in  the  dark,  as  in 
the  Spanish  court  of  Inquisition.  Nor  is  there  any  petty 
jury  of  his  peers,  sworn  to  try  the  truth  of  the  charges. 
The  proceedings  are  also  sometimes  so  rapid,  that  an 
honest,  good  citizen  may  find  himself  suddenly  and  un- 
expectedly accused,  and  in  the  same  morning  judged 
and  condemned,  and  sentence  pronounced  against  him, 
that  he  is  a  rogue  and  a  villain.  Yet,  if  an  officer  of  this 
court  receives  the  slightest  check  for  misconduct  in  this 
his  office,  he  claims  immediately  the  rights  of  a  free  citi- 
zen by  the  constitution,  and  demands  to  know  his  accu- 
ser, to  confront  the  witnesses,  and  to  have  a  fair  trial  by 
a  jury  of  his  peers. 

The  Foundation  of  its  Authority. 
It  is  said  to  be  founded  on  an  article  in  the  State 
Constitution,  which  establishes  the  liberty  of  the  press  ;  a 


510  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

liberty  which  every  Pennsylvanian  will  fight  and  die  for; 
though  few  of  us,  I  believe,  have  distinct  ideas  of  its 
nature  and  extent.  It  seems  indeed  somewhat  like  the 
liberty  of  the  press  that  felons  have,  by  the  common  law 
of  England,  before  conviction,  that  is,  to  be  pressed  to 
death  or  hanged.  If  by  the  liberty  of  the  press  were  un- 
derstood merely  the  liberty  of  discussing  the  propriety  of 
public  measures  and  political  opinions,  let  us  have  as 
much  of  it  as  you  please ;  but,  if  it  means  the  liberty  of 
affronting,  calumniating,  and  defaming  one  another,  I, 
for  my  part,  own  myself  willing  to  part  with  my  share  of 
it  whenever  our  legislators  shall  please  so  to  alter  the 
law,  and  shall  cheerfully  consent  to  exchange  my  liberty 
of  abusing  others  for  the  privilege  of  not  being  abused 
myself. 

By  whom  this  Court  is  commissioned  or  constituted. 

It  is  not  by  any  commission  from  the  Supreme  Ex- 
ecutive Council,  who  might  previously  judge  of  the  abili- 
ties, integrity,  knowledge,  &c.  of  the  persons  to  be  ap- 
pointed to  this  great  trust,  of  deciding  upon  the  charac- 
ters and  good  fame  of  the  citizens;  for  this  court  is 
above  that  Council,  and  may  accuse,  judge,  and  condemn 
it,  at  pleasure.  Nor  is  it  hereditary,  as  in  the  court  of 
dernier  resort,  in  the  peerage  of  England.  But  any  man 
who  can  procure  pen,  ink,  and  paper,  with  a  press,  a 
few  types,  and  a  huge  pair  of  BLACKING  balls,  may 
commissionate  himself;  and  his  court  is  immediately  es- 
tablished in  the  plenary  possession  and  exercise  of  its 
rights.  For,  if  you  make  the  least  complaint  of  the 
judge's  conduct,  he  daubs  his  blacking  balls  in  your  face 
wherever  he  meets  you ;  and,  besides  tearing  your 
private  character  to  flitters,  marks  you  out  for  the  odium 
of  the  public,  as  an  enemy  to  the  liberty  of  the  press. 


POLITICAL  ECONOMY.  511 

Of  the  natural  Support  of  these  Courts. 

Their  support  is  founded  in  the  depravity  of  such 
minds,  as  have  not  been  mended  by  religion,  nor  im- 
proved by  good  education ; 

"  There  is  a  lust  in  man  no  charm  can  tame, 
Of  loudly  publishing  his  neighbour's  shame." 

Hence ; 

"On  eagle's  wings  immortal  scandals  fly, 
While  virtuous  actions  are  but  born  and  die." 

DRYDEN. 

Whoever  feels  pain  in  hearing  a  good  character  of  his 
neighbour,  will  feel  a  pleasure  in  the  reverse.  And  of 
those  who,  despairing  to  rise  into  distinction  by  their  vir- 
tues, are  happy  if  others  can  be  depressed  to  a  level 
with  themselves,  there  are  a  number  sufficient  in  every 
great  town  to  maintain  one  of  these  courts  by  their  sub- 
scriptions. A  shrewd  observer  once  said,  that,  in  walk- 
ing the  streets  in  a  slippery  morning,  one  might  see 
where  the  good-natured  people  lived  by  the  ashes 
thrown  on  the  ice  before  .their  doors ;  probably  he  would 
have  formed  a  different  conjecture  of  the  temper  of  those 
whom  he  might  find  engaged  in  such  a  subscription. 

Of  the  Checks  proper  to  be  established  against  the  JIbuse 
of  Power  in  these  Courts. 

Hitherto  there  are  none.  But  since  so  much  has 
been  written  and  published  on  the  federal  Constitution, 
and  the  necessity  of  checks  in  all  other  parts  of  good 
government  has  been  so  clearly  and  learnedly  explained, 
I  find  myself  so  far  enlightened  as  to  suspect  some 
check  may  be  proper  in  this  part  also ;  but  I  have  been 
at  a  loss  to  imagine  any  that  may  not  be  construed  an 
infringement  of  the  sacred  liberty  of  the  press.  Al 
length,  however,  I  think  I  have  found  one  that,  in- 
stead of  diminishing  general  liberty,  shall  augment  it; 
which  is,  by  restoring  to  the  people  a  species  of  liberty, 


512  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

of  which  they  have  been  deprived  by  our  laws,  I  mean 
the  liberty  of  the  cudgel.  In  the  rude  state  of  society 
prior  to  the  existence  of  laws,  if  one  man  gave  another 
ill  language,  the  affronted  person  would  return  it  by  a 
box  on  the  ear,  and,  if  repeated,  by  a  good  drubbing ; 
and  this  without  offending  against  any  law.  But  now 
the  right  of  making  such  returns  is  denied,  and  they  are 
punished  as  breaches  of  the  peace ;  while  the  right  of 
abusing  seems  to  remain  in  full  force,  the  laws  made 
against  it  being  rendered  ineffectual  by  the  liberty  of  the 
press. 

My  proposal  then  is,  to  leave  the  liberty  of  the  press 
untouched,  to  be  e'xercised  in  its  full  extent,  force,  and 
vigor ;  but  to  permit  the  liberty  of  the  cudgel  to  go  with 
itparipassu.  Thus,  my  fellow-citizens,  if  an  impudent 
writer  attacks  your  reputation,  dearer  to  you  perhaps  than 
your  life,  and  puts  his  name  to  the  charge,  you  may  go 
to  him  as  openly  and  break  his  head.  If  he  conceals 
himself  behind  the  printer,  and  you  can  nevertheless  dis- 
cover who  he  is,  you  may  in  like  manner  way-lay  him 
in  the  night,  attack  him  behind,  and  give  him  a  good 
drubbing.  Thus  far  goes  my  project  as  to  private  resent- 
ment and  retribution.  But  if  the  public  should  ever  hap- 
pen to  be  affronted,  as  it  ought  to  be,  with  the  conduct  of 
such  WTiters,  I  would  not  advise  proceeding  immediately 
to  these  extremities ;  but  that  we  should  in  moderation 
content  ourselves  with  tarring  and  feathering,  and  tossing 
them  in  a  blanket. 

If,  however,  it  should  be  thought  that  this  proposal  of 
mine  may  disturb  the  public  peace,  I  would  then  humbly 
recommend  to  our  legislators  to  take  up  the  considera- 
tion of  both  liberties,  that  of  the  press,  and  that  of  the 
cudgel,  and  by  an  explicit  law  mark  their  extent  and 
limits ;  and,  at  the  same  time  that  they  secure  the  per- 
son of  a  citizen  from  assaults,  they  would  likewise 
provide  for  the  security  of  his  reputation. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  513 

PLAN 
FOR  IMPROVING  THE  CONDITION  OF  THE  FREE  BLACKS. 

THE  business  relative  to  free  blacks  shall  be  trans- 
acted by  a  committee  of  twenty-four  persons,  annually 
elected  by  ballot,  at  the  meeting  of  this  Society,*  in  the 
month  called  April ;  and,  in  order  to  perform  the  dif- 
ferent services  with  expedition,  regularity,  and  energy, 
this  committee  shall  resolve  itself  into  the  following 
sub-committees,  viz. 

I.  A  Committee  of  Inspection,  who  shall  superintend 
the  morals,  general  conduct,  and  ordinary  situation  of 
the  free  negroes,  and  afford  them  advice  and  instruc- 
tion, protection  from  wrongs,  and  other  friendly  offices. 

II.  A  Committee  of  Guardians,  who  shall  place  out 
children  and  young  people  with  suitable  persons,  that 
they  may  (during  a  moderate  time  of  apprenticeship  or 
servitude)  learn  some  trade  or  other  business  of  sub- 
sistence.    The   committee  may  effect  this  partly  by  a 
persuasive  influence  on  parents  and  the  persons  con- 
cerned, and  partly  by  cooperating  with  the  laws,  which 
are,  or  may  be,  enacted  for  this  and  similar  purposes. 
In  forming  contracts  on  these  occasions,  the  committee 
shall  secure  to   the  Society,  as  far  as  may  be  practica- 
ble, the  right  of  guardianship  over  the  persons  so  bound. 

III.  A  Committee  of  Education,  who  shall   superin- 
tend   the  school  instruction  of  the  children  and  youth 
of  the  free  blacks.     They   may  either  influence  them 
to  attend  regularly  the  schools    already  established  in 
this  city,  or  form  others  with  this  view ;  they  shall,  in 
either  case,  provide,  that  the  pupils  may  receive  such 
learning  as  is  necessary  for  their  future  situation  in  life, 

*  The  Society  for  promoting  the  Abolition  of  Slavery  and  the  Relief 
of  Free  Blacks,  mentioned  in  the  next  article. 

VOL.  ii.  33 


514  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

and  especially  a  deep  impression  of  the  most  important 
and  generally  acknowledged  moral  and  religious  prin- 
ciples. They  shall  also  procure  and  preserve  a  regular 
record  of  the  marriages,  births,  and  manumissions  of 
all  free  blacks. 

IV.  A  Committee  of  Employ,  who  shall  endeavour  to 
procure  constant  employment  for  those  free  negroes 
who  are  able  to  work ;  as  the  want  of  this  would  oc- 
casion poverty,  idleness,  and  many  vicious  habits.  This 
committee  will,  by  sedulous  inquiry,  be  enabled  to  find 
common  labor  for  a  great  number ;  they  will  also  pro- 
vide, that  such  as  indicate  proper  talents  may  learn 
various  trades,  which  may  be  done  by  prevailing  upon 
them  to  bind  themselves  for  such  a  term  of  years  as  shall 
compensate  their  masters  for  the  expense  and  trouble  of 
instruction  and  maintenance.  The  committee  may  at- 
tempt the  institution  of  some  useful  and  simple  manufac- 
tures, which  require  but  little  skill,  and  also  may  assist, 
in  commencing  business,  such  as  appear  to  be  qualified 
for  it. 

Whenever  the  committee  of  inspection  shall  find  per- 
sons of  any  particular  description  requiring  attention, 
they  shall  immediately  direct  them  to  the  committee  of 
whose  care  they  are  the  proper  objects. 

In  matters  of  a  mixed  nature,  the  committees  shall 
confer,  and,  if  necessary,  act  in  concert.  Affairs  of  great 
importance  shall  be  referred  to  the  whole  committee. 

The  expense,  incurred  by  the  prosecution  of  this  plan, 
shall  be  defrayed  by  a  fund,  to  be  formed  by  donations 
or  subscriptions  for  these  particular  purposes,  and  to  be 
kept  separate  from  the  other  funds  of  this  Society. 

The  committee  shall  make  a  report  of  their  pro- 
ceedings, and  of  the  state  of  their  stock,  to  the  Soci- 
ety, at  their  quarterly  meetings,  in  the  months  called 
April  and  October. 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  515 


AN    ADDRESS  TO   THE   PUBLIC; 

1ROM  THE  PENNSYLVANIA  SOCIETY  FOR  PROMOTING  THE  ABO- 
LITION OF  SLAVERY,  AND  THE  RELIEF  OF  FREE  NEGROES  UN- 
LAWFULLY HELD  IN  BONDAGE. 

IT  is  with  peculiar  satisfaction  we  assure  the  friends 
of  humanity,  that,  in  prosecuting  the  design  of  our  as- 
sociation, our  endeavours  have  proved  successful,  far 
beyond  our  most  sanguine  expectations. 

Encouraged  by  this  success,  and  by  the  daily  pro- 
gress of  that  luminous  and  benign  spirit  of  liberty, 
which  is  diffusing  itself  throughout  the  world,  and  hum- 
bly hoping  for  the  continuance  of  the  divine  blessing 
on  our  labors,  we  have  ventured  to  make  an  important 
addition  to  our  original  plan,  and  do  therefore  earnestly 
solicit  the  support  and  assistance  of  all  who  can  feel 
the  tender  emotions  of  sympathy  and  compassion,  or 
relish  the  exalted  pleasure  of  beneficence. 

Slavery  is  such  an  atrocious  debasement  of  human 
nature,  that  its  very  extirpation,  if  not  performed  with 
solicitous  care,  may  sometimes  open  a  source  of  serious 
evils. 

The  unhappy  man,  who  has  long  been  treated  as  a 
brute  animal,  too  frequently  sinks  beneath  the  common 
standard  ot  the  human  species.  The  galling  chains, 
that  bind  his  body,  do  also  fetter  his  intellectual  facul- 
ties, and  impair  the  social  affections  of  his  heart.  Ac- 
customed to  move  like  a  mere  machine,  by  the  will 
of  a  master,  reflection  is  suspended ;  he  has  not  the 
power  of  choice ;  and  reason  and  conscience  have  but 
little  influence  over  his  conduct,  because  he  is  chiefly 
governed  by  the  passion  of  fear.  He  is  poor  and 
friendless;  perhaps  worn  out  by  extreme  labor,  age, 
and  disease. 


516  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

Under  such  circumstances,  freedom  may  often  prove 
a  misfortune  to  himself,  and  prejudicial  to  society. 

Attention  to  emancipated  black  people,  it  is  there- 
fore to  be  hoped,  will  become  a  branch  of  our  national 
police ;  but,  as  far  as  we  contribute  to  promote  this 
emancipation,  so  far  that  attention  is  evidently  a  seri- 
ous duty  incumbent  on  us,  and  which  we  mean  to 
discharge  to  the  best  of  our  judgment  and  abilities. 

To  instruct,  to  advise,  to  qualify  those,  who  have 
been  restored  to  freedom,  for  the  exercise  and  enjoy- 
ment of  civil  liberty,  to  promote  in  them  habits  of  in- 
dustry, to  furnish  them  with  employments  suited  to 
their  age,  sex,  talents,  and  other  circumstances,  and 
to  procure  their  children  an  education  calculated  for 
their  future  situation  in  life ;  these  are  the  great  out- 
lines of  the  annexed  plan,  which  we  have  adopted, 
and  which  we  conceive  will  essentially  promote  the 
public  good,  and  the  happiness  of  these  our  hitherto 
too  much  neglected  fellow-creatures. 

A  plan  so  extensive  cannot  be  carried  into  execu- 
tion without  considerable  pecuniary  resources,  beyond 
the  present  ordinary  funds  of  the  Society.  We  hope 
much  from  the  generosity  of  enlightened  and  benevo- 
lent freemen,  and  will  gratefully  receive  any  donations 
or  subscriptions  for  this  purpose,  which  may  be  made 
to  our  treasurer,  James  Starr,  or  to  James  Pemberton, 
chairman  of  our  committee  of  correspondence. 
Sigaed,  by  order  of  the  Society, 

B.  FRANKLIN,  President 

Philadelphia,  9th  of  November,  1789. 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  517 


ON    THE    SLAVE-TRADE. 


Dr.  Franklin's  name,  as  President  of  the  Abolition  Society,  was 
signed  to  the  memorial  presented  to  the  House  of  Representatives 
of  the  United  States,  on  the  12th  of  February,  1789,  praying  them 
to  exert  the  full  extent  of  power  vested  in  them  by  the  Constitution, 
in  discouraging  the  traffic  of  the  human  species.  This  was  his 
last  public  act.  In  the  debates  to  which  this  memorial  gave  rise, 
several  attempts  were  made  to  justify  the  trade.  In  the  Federal 
Gazette  of  March  25th,  1790,  there  appeared  an  essay,  signed 
HISTORICUS,  written  by  Dr.  Franklin,  in  which  he  communicated 
a  Speech,  said  to  have  been  delivered  in  the  Divan  of  Algiers,  in 
1687,  in  opposition  to  the  prayer  of  the  petition  of  a  sect  called 
Erika,  or  Purists,  for  the  abolition  of  piracy  and  slavery.  This 
pretended  African  speech  was  an  excellent  parody  of  one  deliv- 
ered by  Mr.  Jackson,  of  Georgia.  All  the  arguments,  urged  in 
favor  of  negro  slavery,  are  applied  with  equal  force  to  justify  the 
plundering  and  enslaving  of  Europeans.  It  affords,  at  the  same 
time,  a  demonstration  of  the  futility  of  the  arguments  in  defence 
of  the  slave-trade,  and  of  the  strength  of  mind  and  ingenuity  of 
the  author,  at  his  advanced  period  of  life.  It  furnishes,  too,  a  no 
less  convincing  proof  of  his  power  of  imitating  the  style  of  other 
times  and  nations,  than  his  celebrated  Parable  against  Persecution. 
And  as  the  latter  led  many  persons  to  search  the  Scriptures  with 
a  view  to  find  it,  so  the  former  caused  many  persons  to  search 
the  book-stores  and  libraries  for  the  work  from  which  it  was  said 
to  be  extracted.  —  DR.  STUBER. 


TO  THE  EDITOR  OF  THE  FEDERAL  GAZETTE. 

March  23d,  1790. ' 

SIR, 

Reading  last  night  in  your  excellent  paper  the 
speech  of  Mr.  Jackson  in  Congress  against  their  med- 
dling with  the  affair  of  slavery,  or  attempting  to  mend 

*  This  paper  is  dated  only  twenty-four  days  before  the  author's  death 
which  happened  on  the   17th  of  April  following.  —  EDITOR. 


518  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

the  condition  of  the  slaves,  it  put  me  in  mind  of  a 
similar  one  made  about  one  hundred  years  since  by 
Sidi  Mehemet  Ibrahim,  a  member  of  the  Divan  of  Al- 
giers, which  may  be  seen  in  Martin's  Account  of  his 
Consulship,  anno  1687.  It  was  against  granting  the 
petition  of  the  sect  called  Erika,  or  Purists,  who  prayed 
for  the  abolition  of  piracy  and  slavery  as  being  unjust. 
Mr.  Jackson  does  not  quote  it ;  perhaps  he  has  not  seen 
it.  If,  therefore,  some  of  its  reasonings  are  to  be 
found  in  his  eloquent  speech,  it  may  only  show  that 
men's  interests  and  intellects  operate  and  are  operated 
on  with  surprising  similarity  in  all  countries  and  climates, 
whenever  they  are  under  similar  circumstances.  The 
African's  speech,  as  translated,  is  as  follows. 

"  Jillah  Bismillah,  Sfc.     God  is  great,  and  Mahomet  is 
his  Prophet. 

"  Have  these  Erika  considered  the  consequences 
of  granting  their  petition  ?  If  we  cease  our  cruises 
against  the  Christians,  how  shall  we  be  furnished  with 
the  commodities  their  countries  produce,  and  which 
are  so  necessary  for  us  ?  If  we  forbear  to  make  slaves 
of  their  people,  who  in  this  hot  climate  are  to  cultivate 
our  lands  ?  Who  are  to  perform  the  common  labors 
of  our  city,  and  in  our  families  ?  Must  we  not  then 
be  our  own  slaves?  And  is  there  not  more  compas- 
sion and  more  favor  due  to  us  as  Mussulmen,  than 
to  these  Christian  dogs  ?  We  have  now  above  fifty 
thousand  slaves  in  and  near  Algiers.  This  number,  if 
not  kept  up  by  fresh  supplies,  will  soon  diminish,  and 
be  gradually  annihilated.  If  we  then  cease  taking  and 
plundering  the  infidel  ships,  and  making  slaves  of  the 
seamen  and  passengers,  our  lands  will  become  of  no 
value  for  want  of  cultivation;  the  rents  of  houses  in 
the  city  will  sink  one  half;  and  the  revenue  of  gov- 


POLITICAL    ECONOMY.  519 

ernment  arising  from  its  share  of  prizes  be  totally  de- 
stroyed! And  for  what?  To  gratify  the  whims' of  a 
whimsical  sect,  who  would  have  us,  not  only  forbear 
making  more  slaves,  but  even  manumit  those  we  have. 

"  But  who  is  to  indemnify  their  masters  for  the  loss  ? 
Will  the  state  do  it  ?  Is  our  treasury  sufficient  ?  Will 
the  Erika  do  it?  Can  they  do  it?  Or  would  they, 
to  do  what  they  think  justice  to  the  slaves,  do  a  greater 
injustice  to  the  owners?  And  if  we  set  our  slaves 
free,  what  is  to  be  done  with  them?  Few  of  them 
will  return  to  their  countries ;  they  know  too  well  the 
greater  hardships  they  must  there  be  subject  to ;  they 
will  not  embrace  our  holy  religion  ;  they  will  not  adopt 
our  manners ;  our  people  will  not  pollute  themselves  by 
intermarrying  with  them.  Must  we  maintain  them  as 
beggars  in  our  streets,  or  suffer  our  properties  to  be  the 
prey  of  their  pillage  ?  For  men  accustomed  to  slavery 
will  not  work  for  a  livelihood  when  not  compelled. 
And  what  is  there  so  pitiable  in  their  present  condi- 
tion ?  Were  they  not  slaves  in  their  own  countries  ? 

"Are  not  Spain,  Portugal,  France,  and  the  Italian 
states  governed  by  despots,  who  hold  all  their  sub- 
jects in  slavery,  without  exception  ?  Even  England 
treats  its  sailors  as  slaves ;  for  they  are,  whenever  the 
government  pleases,  seized,  and  confined  in  ships  of 
war,  condemned  not  only  to  work,  but  to  fight,  for 
small  wages,  or  a  mere  subsistence,  not  better  than 
our  slaves  are  allowed  by  us.  Is  their  condition  then 
made  worse  by  their  falling  into  our  hands?  No; 
they  have  only  exchanged  one  slavery  for  another,  and 
I  may  say  a  better ;  for  here  they  are  brought  into  a 
land  where  the  sun  of  Islamism  gives  forth  its  light, 
and  shines  in  full  splendor,  and  they  have  an  oppor- 
tunity of  making  themselves  acquainted  with  the  true 
doctrine,  and  thereby  saving  their  immortal  souls. 
Those  who  remain  at  home  have  not  that  happiness. 


520  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

Sending  the  slaves  home  then  would  be  sending  them 
out  of  light  into  darkness. 

" I  repeat  the  question,  What  is  to  be  done  with  them? 
I  have  heard  it  suggested,  that  they  may  be  planted 
in  the  wilderness,  where  there  is  plenty  of  land  for 
them  to  subsist  on,  and  where  they  may  flourish  as 
a  free  state ;  but  they  are,  I  doubt,  too  little  disposed 
to  labor  without  compulsion,  as  well  as  too  ignorant 
to  establish  a  good  government,  and  the  wild  Arabs 
would  soon  molest  and  destroy  or  again  enslave  them. 
While  serving  us,  we  take  care  to  provide  them  with 
every  thing,  and  they  are  treated  with  humanity.  The 
laborers  in  their  own  country  are,  as  I  am  well  in- 
formed, worse  fed,  lodged,  and  clothed.  The  condition 
of  most  of  them  is  therefore  already  mended,  and  re- 
quires no  further  improvement.  Here  their  lives  are 
in  safety.  They  are  not  liable  to  be  impressed  for 
soldiers,  and  forced  to  cut  one  another's  Christian 
throats,  as  in  the  wars  of  their  own  countries.  If 
some  of  the  religious  mad  bigots,  who  now  tease  us 
with  their  silly  petitions,  have  in  a  fit  of  blind  zeal 
freed  their  slaves,  it  was  not  generosity,  it  was  not 
humanity,  that  moved  them  to  the  action ;  it  was  from 
the  conscious  burthen  of  a  load  of  sins,  and  a  hope, 
from  the  supposed  merits  of  so  good  a  work,  to  be 
excused  from  damnation. 

"  How  grossly  are  they  mistaken  to  suppose  slavery 
to  be  disallowed  by  the  Alcoran !  Are  not  the  two 
precepts,  to  quote  no  more,  *  Masters,  treat  your  slaves 
with  kindness;  Slaves,  serve  your  masters  with  cheer- 
fulness and  fidelity,'  clear  proofs  to  the  contrary? 
Nor  can  the  plundering  of  infidels  be  in  that  sacred 
book  forbidden,  since  it  is  well  known  from  it,  that 
God  has  given  the  world,  and  all  that  it  contains,  to 
his  faithful  Mussulmen,  who  are  to  enjoy  it  of  right 
as  fast  as  they  conquer  it.  Let  us  then  hear  no  more 


POLITICAL     ECONOMY.  521 

of  this  detestable  proposition,  the  manumission  of  Chris- 
tian slaves,  the  adoption  of  which  would,  by  depre- 
ciating oui-  lands  and  houses,  and  thereby  depriving 
so  many  good  citizens  of  their  properties,  create  uni- 
versal discontent,  and  provoke  insurrections,  to  the  en- 
dangering of  government  and  producing  general  con- 
fusion. I  have  therefore  no  doubt,  but  this  wise  coun- 
cil will  prefer  the  comfort  and  happiness  of  a  whole 
nation  of  true  believers  to  the  whim  of  a  few  Erika, 
and  dismiss  their  petition." 

The  result  was,  as  Martin  tells  us,  that  the  Divan 
came  to  this  resolution ;  "  The  doctrine,  that  plundering 
and  enslaving  the  Christians  is  unjust,  is  at  best  pro- 
blematical; but  that  it  is  the  interest  of  this  state  to 
continue  the  practice,  is  clear ;  therefore,  let  the  peti- 
tion be  rejected." 

And  it  was  rejected  accordingly. 

And  since  like  motives  are  apt  to  produce  in  the 
minds  of  men  like  opinions  and  resolutions,  may  we 
not,  Mr.  Brown,  venture  to  predict,  from  this  account, 
that  the  petitions  to  the  Parliament  of  England  for 
abolishing  the  slave-trade,  to  say  nothing  of  other 
legislatures,  and  the  debates  upon  them,  will  have  a 
similar  conclusion  ?  I  am,  Sir,  your  constant  readei 
and  humble  servant,  HISTORICUS. 


SUPPLEMENT. 


THE  articles  contained  in  the  following  SUPPLEMENT  have  never 
before  appeared  in  any  edition  of  the  author's  writings.  Some  of 
them  were  originally  printed  in  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette.  They 
have  all  been  recently  transcribed  from  a  manuscript  book  in  Dr. 
Franklin's  handwriting,  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  William 
Duane,  Jr.  of  Philadelphia,  and  published  by  Mr.  T.  W.  White  of 
Richmond,  in  the  Southern  Literary  Messenger.  With  Mr.  Duane's 
permission  they  are  inserted  in  the  present  work.  —  EDITOR. 


SUPPLEMENT. 


A   LECTURE 

ON   THE 

PROVIDENCE  OF  GOD  IN  THE  GOVERNMENT  OF  THE  WORLD 

WHEN  I  consider  my  own  weakness  and  the  dis- 
cerning judgment  of  those  who  are  to  be  my  audience, 
I  cannot  help  blaming  myself  considerably  for  this  rash 
undertaking  of  mine,  being  a  thing  I  am  altogether  un- 
practised in,  and  very  much  unqualified  for ;  but  I  am 
especially  discouraged  when  I  reflect,  that  you  are  all 
my  intimate  pot-companions,  who  have  heard  me  say  a 
thousand  silly  things  in  conversation,  and  therefore  have 
not  that  laudable  partiality  and  veneration  for  whatever 
I  shall  deliver,  that  good  people  commonly  have  foi 
their  spiritual  guides ;  that  you  have  no  reverence  for 
my  habit,  nor  for  the  sanctity  of  my  countenance ;  thai 
you  do  not  believe  me  inspired  or  divinely  assisted,  and 
therefore  will  think  yourselves  at  liberty  to  assert  or 
dissert,  approve  or  disapprove  of  any  thing  I  advance, 
canvassing  and  sifting  it,  as  the  private  opinion  of  one 
of  your  acquaintance.  These  are  great  disadvantages 
and  discouragements ;  but  I  am  entered  and  must  pro- 
ceed, humbly  requesting  your  patience  and  attention. 

I  propose,  at  this  time,  to  discourse  on  the  subject  of 
our  last  conversation,  the  Providence  of  God  in  the 


526  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

government  of  the  world.  It  might  be  judged  an  af- 
front to  your  understandings,  should  I  go  about  to  prove 
this  first  principle,  the  existence  of  a  Deity,  and  that  he 
is  the  Creator  of  the  universe ;  for  that  would  suppose 
you  ignorant  of  what  all  mankind  in  all  ages  have 
agreed  in.  I  shall  therefore  proceed  to  observe,  that 
he  must  be  a  being  of  infinite  wisdom,  as  appears  in  his 
admirable  order  and  disposition  of  things ;  whether  we 
consider  the  heavenly  bodies,  the  stars  and  planets,  and 
their  wonderful  regular  motions;  or  this  earth,  com- 
pounded of  such  an  excellent  mixture  of  all  the  ele- 
ments ;  or  the  admirable  structure  of  animate  bodies  of 
such  infinite  variety,  and  yet  every  one  adapted  to  its 
nature  and  the  way  of  life  it  is  to  be  placed  in,  whether 
on  earth,  in  the  air,  or  in  the  water,  and  so  exactly  that 
the  highest  and  most  exquisite  human  reason  cannot 
find  a  fault,  and  say  this  would  have  been  better  so,  or 
in  such  a  manner ;  which  whoever  considers  attentively 
and  thoroughly  will  be  astonished  and  swallowed  up  in 
admiration. 

That  the  Deity  is  a  being  of  great  goodness,  appears 
in  his  giving  life  to  so  many  creatures,  each  of  which 
acknowledges  it  a  benefit,  by  its  unwillingness  to  leave 
it;  in  his  providing  plentiful  sustenance  for  them  all, 
and  making  those  things  that  are  most  useful,  most 
common  and  easy  to  be  had ;  such  as  water,  necessary 
for  almost  every  creature  to  drink ;  air,  without  which 
few  could  subsist;  the  inexpressible  benefits  of  light  and 
sunshine  to  almost  all  animals  in  general ;  and  to  men, 
the  most  useful  vegetables,  such  as  corn,  the  most  useful 
of  metals,  as  iron,  &c.,  the  most  useful  animals,  as 
horses,  oxen,  and  sheep,  he  has  made  easiest  to  raise 
or  procure  in  quantity  or  numbers;  each  of  which 
particulars,  if  considered  seriously  and  carefully,  would 
fill  us  with  the  highest  love  and  affection. 


SUPPLEMENT.  527 

That  he  is  a  being  of  infinite  power  appears  in  his 
being  able  to  form  and  compound  such  vast  masses  of 
matter,  as  this  earth,  and  the  sun,  and  innumerable  stars 
and  planets,  and  give  them  such  prodigious  motion,  and 
yet  so  to  govern  them  in  their  greatest  velocity,  as  that 
they  shall  not  fly  out  of  their  appointed  bounds,  nor 
dash  one  against  another  for  their  mutual  destruction. 
But  it  is  easy  to  conceive  his  power,  when  we  are  con- 
vinced of  his  infinite  knowledge  and  wisdom.  For,  if 
weak  and  foolish  creatures  as  we  are,  by  knowing  the 
nature  of  a  few  things,  can  produce  such  wonderful 
effects ;  such  as,  for  instance,  by  knowing  the  nature 
only  of  nitre  and  sea-salt  mixed  we  can  make  a  water, 
which  will  dissolve  the  hardest  iron,  and  by  adding  one 
ingredient  more  can  make  another  water,  which  will  dis- 
solve gold  and  make  the  most  solid  bodies  fluid ;  and  by 
knowing  the  nature  of  saltpetre,  sulphur,  and  charcoal, 
with  those  mean  ingredients  mixed  we  can  shake  the  air 
in  the  most  terrible  manner,  destroy  ships,  houses,  and 
men  at  a  distance,  and  in  an  instant  overthrow  cities, 
and  rend  rocks  into  a  thousand  pieces,  and  level  the 
highest  mountains ;  what  power  must  he  possess,  who 
not  only  knows  the  nature  of  every  thing  in  the  uni- 
verse, but  can  make  things  of  new  natures  with  the 
greatest  ease  and  at  his  pleasure ! 

Agreeing,  then,  that  the  world  was  at  first  made  by  a 
Being  of  infinite  wisdom,  goodness,  and  power,  which 
Being  we  call  God,  the  state  of  things  existing  at  this 
time  must  be  in  one  of  these  fcur  following  manners, 
namely ; 

1.  Either  he   unchangeably  decreed   and   appointed 
every  thing  that  comes  to  pass,  and  left  nothing  to  the 
course  of  nature,  nor  allowed  any  creature  free  agency ; 

2.  Without  decreeing  any  thing,  he  left  all  to  general 
nature   and  the  events  of  free  agency  in  his  creatures, 
which  he  never  alters  or  interrupts;   or, 


528  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

3.  He    decreed  some  things  unchangeably,  and  left 
others  to  general  nature  and  the  events  of  free  agency, 
which  also  he  never  alters  or  interrupts;   or, 

4.  He  sometimes  interferes  by  his  particular  provi- 
dence, and  sets  aside  the  effects  which  would  otherwise 
have  been  produced  by  any  of  the  above  causes. 

I  shall  endeavour  to  show  the  first  three  suppositions 
lo  be  inconsistent  with  the  common  light  of  reason,  and 
that  the  fourth  is  most  agreeable  to  it,  and  therefore 
most  probably  true. 

In  the  first  place ;  if  you  say  he  has  in  the  begin- 
ning unchangeably  decreed  all  things  and  left  nothing 
to  nature  or  free  agency,  these  strange  conclusions  will 
necessarily  follow.  1.  That  he  is  now  no  more  a  God. 
It  is  true,  indeed,  before  he  made  such  unchangeable 
decree,  he  was  a  being  of  power  almighty ;  but  now, 
having  determined  every  thing,  he  has  divested  himself 
of  all  further  power,  he  has  done  and  has  no  more  to 
do,  he  has  tied  up  his  hands  and  has  now  no  greater 
power  than  an  idol  of  wood  or  stone ;  nor  can  there  be 
any  more  reason  for  praying  to  him  or  worshipping  of 
him  than  of  such  an  idol,  for  the  worshippers  can  never 
be  better  for  such  worship.  Then,  2.  He  has  decreed 
some  things  contrary  to  the  very  notion  of  a  wise  and 
good  being ;  such  as,  that  some  of  his  creatures  or 
children  shall  do  all  manner  of  injury  to  others,  and 
bring  every  kind  of  evil  upon  them  without  cause ;  that 
some  of  them  shall  even  blaspheme  him,  their  Creator, 
in  the  most  horrible  manner ;  and,  which  is  still  more 
highly  absurd,  he  has  decreed,  that  the  greatest  part 
of  mankind  shall  in  all  ages  put  up  their  earnest 
prayers  to  him,  both  in  private  and  publicly  in  great 
assemblies,  when  all  the  while  he  had  so  determined 
their  fate,  that  he  could  not  possibly  grant  them  any 
benefits  on  that  account,  nor  could  such  prayers  be  in 


SUPPLEMENT.  529 

any  way  available.  Why  then  should  he  ordain  them 
to  make  such  prayers?  It  cannot  be  imagined,  that 
they  are  of  any  service  to  him.  Surely  it  is  not  more 
difficult  to  believe  the  world  was  made  by  a  god  of 
wood  or  stone,  than  that  the  God  who  made  the  world 
should  be  such  a  God  as  this. 

In  the  second  place ;  if  you  say  he  has  decreed 
nothing,  but  left  all  things  to  general  nature  and  the 
events  of  free  agency,  which  he  never  alters  or  inter- 
rupts, then  these  conclusions  will  follow ;  he  must  either 
utterly  hide  himself  from  the  works  of  his  own  hands, 
and  take  no  notice  at  all  of  their  proceedings,  natural 
or  moral,  or  he  must  be,  as  undoubtedly  he  is,  a  spec- 
tator of  every  thing,  for  there  can  be  no  reason  or 
ground  to  suppose  the  first.  I  say  there  can  be  no 
reason  to  imagine  he  would  make  so  glorious  a  universe 
merely  to  abandon  it.  In  this  case,  imagine  the  Deity 
looking  on  and  beholding  the  ways  of  his  creatures. 
Some  heroes  in  virtue  he  sees  are  incessantly  endeav- 
ouring the  good  of  others  ;  they  labor  through  vast  diffi- 
culties, they  suffer  incredible  hardships  and  miseries,  to 
accomplish  this  end,  in  hopes  to  please  a  good  God, 
and  attain  his  favors,  which  they  earnestly  pray  for. 
What  answer  can  he  make  then,  within  himself,  but 
this  ?  Take  the  reward  chance  may  give  you  ;  I  do  not 
intermeddle  in  these  affairs.  He  sees  others  continu- 
ally doing  all  manner  of  evil,  and  bringing  by  their  ac- 
tions misery  and  destruction  among  mankind.  What 
can  he  say  here  but  this  1  If  chance  rewards  you,  1 
shall  not  punish  you;  I  am  not  to  be  concerned.  He 
sees  the  just,  the  innocent,  and  the  beneficent  in  the 
hands  of  the  wicked  and  violent  oppressor,  and  when 
the  good  are  at  the  brink  of  destruction,  they  pray  to 
him,  Thou,  0  God,  art  mighty  and  powerful  to  save ; 
help  us,  we  beseech  thee!  He  answers,  /  cannot  help 

VOL.  ii,  34 


530  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

you;  it  is  none  of  my  business,  nor  do  I  at  all  regard 
these  things.  How  is  it  possible  to  believe  a  wise  and 
an  infinitely  good  being  can  be  delighted  in  this  cir- 
cumstance, and  be  utterly  unconcerned  what  becomes 
of  the  beings  and  things  he  has  created  ?  For  thus  we 
must  believe  him  idle  and  inactive,  and  that  his  glorious 
attributes  of  power,  wisdom,  and  goodness  are  no  more 
to  be  made  use  of. 

In  the  third  place ;  if  you  say  he  has  decreed  some 
things,  and  left  others  to  the  events  of  nature  and  free 
agency,  which  he  never  alters  or  interrupts  ;  still  you 
un-  God  him,  if  I  may  be  allowed  the  expression ;  he 
has  nothing  to  do ;  he  can  cause  us  neither  good  nor 
harm ;  he  is  no  more  to  be  regarded  than  a  lifeless 
image,  than  Dagon  or  Baal,  or  Bell  and  the  Dragon ; 
and,  as  in  both  the  other  suppositions  foregoing,  that 
being,  which  from  its  power  is  most  able  to  act,  from 
its  wisdom  knows  best  how  to  act,  and  from  its  good- 
ness would  always  certainly  act  best,  is,  in  this  opinion, 
supposed  to  become  the  most  inactive  of  all  beings, 
and  remain  everlastingly  idle ;  an  absurdity,  which,  when 
considered  or  but  barely  seen,  cannot  be  swallowed 
without  doing  the  greatest  violence  to  common  reason 
and  all  the  faculties  of  the  understanding. 

We  are  then  necessarily  driven  to  the  fourth  suppo- 
sition, that  the  Deity  sometimes  interferes  by  his  par- 
ticular Providence,  and  sets  aside  the  events,  which 
would  otherwise  have  been  produced  in  the  course  of 
nature,  or  by  the  free  agency  of  men ;  and  this  is  per- 
fectly agreeable  with  what  we  know  of  his  attributes 
and  perfections.  But,  as  some  may  doubt  whether  it 
is  possible  there  should  be  such  a  thing  as  free  agency 
in  creatures,  I  shall  just  offer  one  short  argument  on 
that  account,  and  proceed  to  show7  how  the  duty  of 
religion  necessarily  follows  the  belief  of  a  Providence. 


SUPPLEMENT.  531 

You  acknowledge,  that  God  is  infinitely  powerful,  wise, 
and  good,  and  also  a  free  agent,  and  you  will  not  deny 
that  he  has  communicated  to  us  part  of  his  wisdom, 
power,  and  goodness  ;  that  is,  he  has  made  us,  in  some 
degree,  wise,  potent,  and  good.  And  is  it,  then,  im- 
possible for  him  to  communicate  any  part  of  his  free- 
dom, and  make  us  also  in  some  degree  free  ?  Is  not 
even  his  infinite  power  sufficient  for  this  ?  I  should  be 
glad  to  hear  what  reason  any  man  can  give  for  thinking 
in  that  manner.  It  is  sufficient  for  me  to  show  it  is  not 
impossible,  and  no  man,  I  think,  can  show  it  is  improb- 
able. Much  more  might  be  offered  to  demonstrate 
clearly,  that  men  are  in  some  degree  free  agents  and 
accountable  for  their  actions ;  however,  this  I  may  pos- 
sibly reserve  for  another  separate  discourse  hereafter, 
if  I  find  occasion. 

Lastly ;  if  God  does  not  sometimes  interfere  by  his 
Providence,  it  is  either  because  he  cannot,  or  because 
he  will  not.  Which  of  these  positions  will  you  choose  ? 
There  is  a  righteous  nation  grievously  oppressed  by  a 
cruel  tyrant ;  they  earnestly  entreat  God  to  deliver  them. 
If  you  say  he  cannot,  you  deny  his  infinite  power, 
which  you  at  first  acknowledged.  If  you  say  he  will 
not,  you  must  directly  deny  his  infinite  goodness.  You 
are  of  necessity  obliged  to  allow,  that  it  is  highly  rea- 
sonable to  believe  a  Providence,  because  it  is  highly 
absurd  to  believe  otherwise. 

Now,  if  it  is.  unreasonable  to  suppose  it  out  of  the 
power  of  the  Deity  to  help  and  favor  us  particularly, 
or  that  we  are  out  of  his  hearing  and  notice,  or  that 
good  actions  do  not  procure  more  of  his  favor  than  ill 
ones  ;  then  I  conclude,  that,  believing  a  Providence,  we 
have  the  foundation  of  all  true  religion ;  for  we  should 
love  and  revere  that  Deity  for  his  goodness,  and  thank 
him  for  his  benefits ;  we  should  adore  him  for  his  wis- 


532  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS.       . 

dom,  fear  him  for  his  power,  and  pray  to  him  for  his 
favor  and  protection.  And  this  religion  will  be  a  pow- 
erful regulator  of  our  actions,  give  us  peace  and  tran- 
quillity within  our  own  minds,  and  render  us  benevo- 
lent, useful,  and  beneficial  to  others. 


LETTER  FROM  ANTHONY  AFTERWIT. 

FROM    THE    PENNSYLVANIA    GAZETTE,  JULY  10TH,  1732. 

MR.  GAZETTEER, 

I  am  an  honest  tradesman,  who  never  meant  harm  to 
anybody.  My  affairs  went  on  smoothly  while  a  bache- 
lor; but  of  late  I  have  met  with  some  difficulties,  of 
which  I  take  the  freedom  to  give  you  an  account. 

About  the  time  I  first  addressed  my  present  spouse, 
her  father  gave  out  in  speeches,  that  if  she  married  a 
man  he  liked,  he  would  give  with  her  two  hundred 
pounds  in  cash  on  the  day  of  marriage.  He  never  said 
so  much  to  me,  it  is  true ;  but  he  always  received  me 
very  kindly  at  his  house,  and  openly  countenanced  my 
courtship.  I  formed  several  fine  schemes  what  to  do 
with  this  same  two  hundred  pounds,  and  in  some 
measure  neglected  my  business  on  that  account ;  but 
unluckily  it  came  to  pass,  that,  when  the  old  gentleman 
saw  I  was  pretty  well  engaged,  and  that  the  match  was 
too  far  gone  to  be  easily  broke  off,  he,  without  any  rea- 
son given,  grew  very  angry,  forbid  me  the  house,  and 
told  his  daughter,  that,  if  she  married  me,  he  would  not 
give  her  a  farthing.  However,  (as  he  thought)  we 
were  not  to  be  disappointed  in  that  manner,  but,  having 
stole  a  wedding,  I  took  her  home  to  my  house,  where 
we  were  not  in  quite  so  poor  a  condition  as  the  couple 


SUPPLEMENT  533 

described  in  the  Scotch  song,  who  had 

"Neither  pot  nor  pan, 
But  four  bare  legs  together," 

for  I  had  a  house  tolerably  furnished  for  a  poor  man 
before.  No  thanks  to  Dad,  who,  I  understand,  was 
very  much  pleased  with  his  politic  management;  and 
I  have  since  learned,  that  there  are  other  old  curmud- 
geons (so  called)  besides  him,  who  have  this  trick  to 
marry  their  daughters,  and  yet  keep  what  they  might 
well  spare,  till  they  can  keep  it  no  longer.  But  this  by 
way  of  digression;  a  word  to  the  wise  is  enough. 

I  soon  saw,  that  with  care  and  industry  we  might 
live  tolerably  easy  and  in  credit  with  our  neighbours;  but 
my  wife  had  a  strong  inclination  to  be  a  gentlewoman. 
In  consequence  of  this,  my  old-fashioned  looking-glass 
was  one  day  broke,  as  she  said,  no  one  could  tell  which 
way.  However,  since  we  could  not  be  without  a  glass 
in  the  room,  "My  dear,"  saith  she,  "we  may  as  well 
buy  a  large  fashionable  one,  that  Mr.  Such-a-one  has 
to  sell.  It  will  cost  but  little  more  than  a  common  glass, 
and  will  look  much  handsomer  and  more  creditable." 
Accordingly,  the  glass  was  bought  and  hung  against  the 
wall ;  but  in  a  week's  time  I  was  made  sensible,  by  little 
and  little,  that  the  table  was  by  no  means  suitable  to 
such  a  glass  ;  and,  a  more  proper  table  being  procured, 
some  time  after,  my  spouse,  who  was  an  excellent  con- 
triver, informed  me  where  we  might  have  very  hand- 
some chairs  in  the  way ;  and  thus  by  degrees  I  found 
all  my  old  furniture  stowed  up  in  the  garret,  and  every 
thing  below  altered  for  the  better. 

Had  we  stopped  here,  it  might  have  done  well 
enough.  But  my  wife  being  entertained  with  tea  by 
the  good  women  she  visited,  we  could  do  no  less  than 
the  like  when  they  visited  us ;  and  so  we  got  a  tea-table 
with  all  its  appurtenances  of  china  and  silver  Then 


534  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

my  spouse  unfortunately  overworked  herself  in  washing 
the  house,  so  that  we  could  do  no  longer  without  a 
maid.  Besides  this,  it  happened  frequently,  that  when 
I  came  home  at  one,  the  dinner  was  but  just  put  in 
the  pot,  and  my  dear  thought  really  it  had  been  but 
eleven.  At  other  times,  when  I  came  at  the  same  hour, 
she  wondered  I  would  stay  so  long,  for  dinner  was  ready 
about  one,  and  had  waited  for  me  these  two  hours. 
These  irregularities  occasioned  by  mistaking  the  time, 
convinced  me,  that  it  was  absolutely  necessary  to  buy 
a  clock,  which  my  spouse  observed  was  a  great  orna- 
ment to  the  room.  And  lastly,  to  my  grief,  she  was 
troubled  with  some  ailment  or  other,  and  nothing  did 
her  so  much  good  as  riding,  and  these  hackney  horses 
were  such  wretched  ugly  creatures  that  —  I  bought  a 
very  fine  pacing  mare,  which  cost  twenty  pounds ;  and 
hereabouts  affairs  have  stood  for  about  a  twelvemonth 
past. 

I  could  see  all  along,  that  this  did  not  at  all  suit  with 
my  circumstances,  but  had  not  resolution  enough  to  help 
it,  till  lately,  receiving  a  very  severe  dun,  which  men- 
tioned the  next  court,  I  began  in  earnest  to  project  re- 
lief. Last  Monday,  my  dear  went  over  the  river  to  see 
a  relation  and  stay  a  fortnight,  because  she  could  not 
bear  the  heat  of  the  town  air.  In  the  interim  I  have 
taken  my  turn  to  make  alterations ;  namely,  I  have 
turned  away  the  maid,  bag  and  baggage,  (for  what 
should  we  do  with  a  maid,  who,  beside  our  boy,  have 
none  but  ourselves?)  I  have  sold  the  pacing  mare, 
and  bought  a  good  milch  cow  with  three  pounds  of 
the  money.  I  have  disposed  of  the  table,  and  put  a 
good  spinning-wheel  in  its  place,  which  methinks  looks 
very  pretty ;  nine  empty  canisters  I  have  stuffed  with 
llax,  and  with  some  of  the  money  of  the  tea-furniture  I 
have  bought  a  set  of  knitting-needles,  for,  to  tell  you 
the  truth,  /  besin  to  want  stockings.  The  fine  clock  I 


SUPPLEMENT.  535 

have  transformed  into  an  hour-glass,  by  which  I  have 
gained  a  good  round  sum,  and  one  of  the  pieces  of  the 
old  looking-glass,  squared  and  framed,  supplies  the 
place  of  the  great  one,  which  I  have  conveyed  into  a 
closet,  where  it  may  possibly  remain  some  years.  In 
short,  the  face  of  things  is  quite  changed,  and  methinks 
you  would  smile  to  see  my  hour-glass  hanging  in  the 
place  of  the  clock.  What  a  great  ornament  it  is  to  the 
room !  I  have  paid  my  debts  and  find  money  in  my 
pocket.  I  expect  my  dear  home  next  Friday,  and,  as 
your  paper  is  taken  at  the  house  where  she  is,  I  hope 
the  reading  of  this  will  prepare  her  mind  for  the  above 
surprising  revolutions.  If  she  can  conform  herself  to 
this  new  manner  of  living,  we  shall  be  the  happiest  cou- 
ple perhaps  in  the  province,  and  by  the  blessing  of  God 
may  soon  be  in  thriving  circumstances.  I  have  re- 
served the  great  glass,  because  I  know  her  heart  is  set 
upon  it;  I  will  allow  her,  when  she  comes  in,  to  be  taken 
suddenly  ill  with  the  head-ache,  the  stomach-ache,  fainting 
fits,  or  whatever  other  disorder  she  may  think  more 
proper,  and  she  may  retire  to  bed  as  soon  as  she 
pleases.  But,  if  I  should  not  find  her  in  perfect  health, 
both  of  body  and  mind,  the  next  morning,  away  goes 
the  aforesaid  great  glass,  with  several  other  trinkets  I 
have  no  occasion  for,  to  the  vendue,  that  very  day; 
which  is  the  irrevocable  resolution 

Of,  Sir,  her  loving  husband,  and 

Your  very  humble  servant, 

ANTHONY  AFTERWIT. 

P.  S.  I  would  be  glad  to  know  how  you  approve 
my  conduct. 

Jlnswer.  I  don't  love  to  concern  myself  in  affairs 
between  man  and  wife. 


536  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

LETTER  FROM  CELIA  SINGLE. 

FROM   THE   PENNSYLVANIA   GAZETTE,   JULY  24TH,  1732. 

MR.  GAZETTEER, 

I  must  needs  tell  you,  that  some  of  the  things  you 
print  do  more  harm  than  good  ;  particularly  I  think  so 
of  the  tradesman's  letter,  which  was  in  one  of  your  late 
papers,  which  disobliged  many  of  our  sex,  and  has 
broken  the  peace  of  several  families,  by  causing  differ- 
ence between  men  and  their  wives.  I  shall  give  you 
one  instance,  of  which  I  was  an  eye  and  ear  witness. 

Happening  last  Wednesday  morning  to  be  at  Mrs. 
W.'s,  when  her  husband  returned  from  market,  among 
other  things  he  showed  her  some  balls  of  thread,  which 
he  had  bought.  "  My  dear,"  says  he,  "  I  like  mightily 
those  stockings,  which  I  yesterday  saw  neighbour  Af- 
terwit  knitting  for  her  husband,  of  thread  of  her  own 
spinning.  I  should  be  glad  to  have  some  such  stock- 
ings myself.  I  understand  that  your  maid  Mary  is  a 
very  good  knitter,  and,  seeing  this  thread  in  market,  I 
have  bought  it,  that  the  girl  may  make  a  pair  or  two 
for  me."  Mrs.  W.  was  just  then  at  the  glass,  dressing 
her  head,  and  turning  about  with  the  pins  in  her  mouth, 
"  Lord,  child,"  says  she,  "  are  you  crazy  ?  What  time 
has  Mary  to  knit  ?  Who  must  do  the  work,  I  wonder, 
if  you  set  her  to  knitting  ?  "  "  Perhaps,  my  dear,"  says 
he,  "  you  have  a  mind  to  knit  them  yourself.  I  remem- 
ber, when  I  courted  you,  I  once  heard  you  say,  that 
you  had  learned  to  knit  of  your  mother."  "I  knit 
stockings  for  you ! "  says  she  ;  "  not  I,  truly  !  There 
are  poor  women  enough  in  town,  who  can  knit ;  if  you 
please,  you  may  employ  them."  "  Well,  but  my  dear," 
says  he,  "you  know  a  penny  saved  is  a  penny  got, 
and  there  is  neither  sin  nor  shame  in  knitting  a  pair  of 
stockings ;  why  should  you  have  such  a  mighty  aver- 


SUPPLEMENT.  537 

sion  to  it?  And  what  signifies  talking  of  poor  women  1 
You  know  we  are  not  people  of  quality.  We  have  no 
income  to  maintain  us  but  arises  from  my  labor  and  in- 
dustry. Methinks  you  should  not  be  at  all  displeased, 
when  you  have  an  opportunity  of  getting  something  as 
well  as  myself." 

"  I  wonder,"  says  she,  "  you  can  propose  such  a  thing 
to  me.  Did  not  you  always  tell  me  you  would  maintain 
me  like  a  gentlewoman  ?  If  I  had  married  the  Captain, 
I  am  sure  he  would  have  scorned  to  mention  knitting 
of  stockings."  "  Prythee,"  says  he,  a  little  nettled, 
"  what  do  you  tell  me  of  your  Captain  ?  If  you  could 
have  had  him,  I  suppose  you  would,  or  perhaps  you  did 
not  like  him  very  well.  If  I  did  promise  to  maintain 
you  as  a  gentlewoman,  methinks  it  is  time  enough  for 
that,  when  you  know  how  to  behave  yourself  like  one. 
How  long,  do  you  think,  I  can  maintain  you  at  your 
present  rate  of  living  1  "  "  Pray,"  says  she,  somewhat 
fiercely,  and  dashing  the  puff  into  the  powder-box, 
"  don't  use  me  in  this  manner,  for  I  '11  assure  you  I  won't 
bear  it.  This  is  the  fruit  of  your  poison  newspapers ; 
there  shall  no  more  come  here,  I  promise  you."  "Bless 
us,"  says  he,  "what  an  unaccountable  thing  is  this? 
Must  a  tradesman's  daughter,  and  the  wife  of  a  trades- 
man, necessarily  be  a  lady  ?  In  short,  I  tell  you,  if  I 
am  forced  to  work  for  a  living,  and  you  are  too  good 
to  do  the  like,  there  Js  the  door,  go  and  live  upon  your 
estate.  And,  as  I  never  had  or  could  expect  any  thing 
with  you,  I  don't  desire  to  be  troubled  with  you." 

What  answer  she  made,  I  cannot  tell ;  for,  knowing 
that  man  and  wife  are  apt  to  quarrel  more  violently 
when  before  strangers,  than  when  by  themselves,  I 
got  up  and  went  out  hastily.  But  I  understand  from 
Mary,  who  came  to  me  of  an  errand  in  the  evening, 
that  they  dined  together  very  peaceably  and  lovingly, 


538  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

the  balls  of  thread  which  had  caused  the  disturbance 
being  thrown  into  the  kitchen  fire,  which  I  was  very 
glad  to  hear. 

I  have  several  times  in  your  paper  seen  reflections 
upon. us  women  for  idleness  and  extravagance,  but  I 
do  not  remember  to  have  once  seen  such  animadver- 
sions upon  the  men.  If  we  were  disposed  to  be  cen- 
sorious, we  could  furnish  you  with  instances  enough. 
I  might  mention  Mr.  Billiard,  who  loses  more  than  he 
earns  at  the  green  table,  and  would  have  been  in  jail 
long  since,  had  it  not  been  for  his  industrious  wife. 
Mr.  Hustlecap,  who,  every  market-day  at  least,  and 
often  all  day  long,  leaves  his  business  for  the  rattling 
of  half-pence,  in  a  certain  alley ;  or  Mr.  Finikin,  wrho 
has  seven  different  suits  of  fine  clothes,  and  wears  a 
change  every  day,  while  his  wife  and  children  sit  at 
home  half  naked ;  Mr.  Crownhim,  always  dreaming 
over  the  chequer-board,  and  who  cares  not  how  the 
world  goes  with  his  family,  so  he  does  but  get  the 
game  ;  Mr.  Totherpot,  the  tavern-haunter ;  Mr.  Bookish, 
the  everlasting  reader ;  Mr.  Tweedledum,  and  sever- 
al others,  who  are  mighty  diligent  at  any  thing  besides 
their  proper  business.  I  say,  if  I  were  disposed  to  be 
censorious,  I  might  mention  all  these  and  more,  but  I 
hate  to  be  thought  a  scandalizer  of  my  neighbours, 
and  therefore  forbear ;  and  for  your  part,  I  would  ad- 
vise you  for  the  future  to  entertain  your  readers  with 
something  else,  besides  people's  reflections  upon  one 
another ;  for  remember,  that  there  are  holes  enough  to 
be  picked  in  your  coat,  as  well  as  others,  and  those 
that,  are  affronted  by  the  satire  that  you  may  publish, 
will  not  consider  so  much  who  wrote  as  who  printed, 
and  treat  you  accordingly.  Take  not  this  freedom 
amiss  from 

Your  friend  and  reader, 

CELIA  SINGLE. 


SUPPLEMENT  539 

ON   SCANDAL. 

MR.  GAZETTEER, 

1  was  highly  pleased  with  your  last  week's  paper 
upon  SCAJVDAL,  as  the  uncommon  doctrine  therein 
preached  is  agreeable  both  to  my  principles  and  prac- 
tice, and  as  it  was  published  very  seasonably  to  re- 
prove the  impertinence  of  a  writer  in  the  foregoing 
Thursday's  Mercury,  who,  at  the  conclusion  of  one  of 
his  silly  paragraphs,  laments  forsooth,  that  the  fair  sex 
are  so  peculiarly  guilty  of  this  enormous  crime.  Every 
blockhead,  ancient  and  modern,  that  could  handle  a 
pen,  has,  I  think,  taken  upon  him  to  cant  in  the  same 
senseless  strain.  If  to  scandalize  be  really  a  crime, 
what  do  these  puppies  mean  ?  They  describe  it,  they 
dress  it  up  in  the  most  odious,  frightful,  and  detestable 
colors,  they  represent  it  as  the  worst  of  crimes,  and 
then  roundly  and  charitably  charge  the  whole  race  of 
womankind  with  it.  Are  not  they  then  guilty  of  what 
they  condemn,  at  the  same  time  that  they  condemn 
it  ?  If  they  accuse  us  of  any  other  crime,  they  must 
necessarily  scandalize  while  they  do  it ;  but  to  scan- 
dalize us  with  being  guilty  of  scandal,  is  in  itself  an 
egregious  absurdity,  and  can  proceed  from  nothing 
but  the  most  consummate  impudence  in  conjunction 
with  the  most  profound  stupidity. 

This  supposing,  as  they  do,  that  to  scandalize  is  a 
crime,  you  have  convinced  all  reasonable  people  is  an 
opinion  absolutely  erroneous.  Let  us  leave,  then,  these 
select  mock-moralists,  while  I  entertain  you  with  some 
account  of  my  life  and  manners. 

I  am  a  young  girl  of  about  thirty-five,  and  live  at 
present  with  my  mother.  I  have  no  care  upon  my 
head  of  getting  a  living,  and  therefore  find  it  my  duty, 


540  FRANKLIN'S   WRITIN  JS 

as  well  as  inclination,  to  exercise  my  talent  at  censure, 
for  the  good  of  my  country-folks.  There  was,  I  am 
told,  a  certain  generous  emperor,  who,  if  a  day  had 
passed  over  his  head  in  which  he  had  conferred  no 
benefit  on  any  man,  used  to  say  to  his  friends,  in  Latin, 
Diem  perdidi,  that  is,  it  seems,  /  have  lost  a  day.  I 
believe  1  should  make  use  of  the  same  expression,  if  it 
were  possible  for  a  day  to  pass  in  which  I  had  not,  or 
missed,  an  opportunity  to  scandalize  somebody  ;  but, 
thanks  be  praised,  no  such  misfortune  has  befell  me 
hese  dozen  years. 

Yet,  whatever  good  I  may  do,  I  cannot  pretend  that 
I  at  first  entered  into  the  practice  of  this  virtue  from  a 
principle  of  public  spirit ;  for  I  remember,  that,  when  a 
child,  I  had  a  violent  inclination  to  be  ever  talking  in  my 
own  praise ;  and  being  continually  told  that  it  was  ill 
manners,  and  once  severely  whipped  for  it,  the  confined 
stream  formed  for  itself  a  new  channel,  and  I  began  to 
speak  for  the  future  in  the  dispraise  of  others.  This 
I  found  more  agreeable  to  company,  and  almost  as 
much  so  to  myself;  for  what  great  difference  can  there 
be  between  putting  yourself  up,  or  putting  your  neigh- 
bour down?  Scandal,  like  other  virtues,  is  in  part  its 
own  reward,  as  it  gives  us  the  satisfaction  of  making 
ourselves  appear  better  than  others,  or  others  no  better 
than  ourselves. 

My  mother,  good  woman,  and  I,  have  heretofore  dif- 
fered upon  this  account.  She  argued,  that  scandal 
spoilt  all  good  conversation ;  and  I  insisted,  that  without 
it  there  would  be  no  such  thing.  Our  disputes  once 
rose  so  high,  that  we  parted  tea-tables,  and  I  concluded 
to  entertain  my  acquaintance  in  the  kitchen.  The  first 
day  of  this  separation  we  both  drank  tea  at  the  same 
time,  but  she  with  her  visitors  in  the  parlour.  She  would 
not  hear  of  the  least  objection  to  any  one's  character, 


SUPPLEMENT.  541 

but  began  a  new  sort  of  discourse  in  some  such  queer 
philosophical  manner  as  this ;  "  I  am  mightily  pleased 
sometimes,"  says  she,  "when  I  observe  and  consider, 
that  the  world  is  not  so  bad  as  people  out  of  humor 
imagine  it  to  be.  There  is  something  amiable,  some 
good  quality  or  other,  in  every  body.  If  we  were 
only  to  speak  of  people,  that  are  least  respected,  there 
is  such  a  one  is  very  dutiful  to  her  father,  and  methinks 
has  a  fine  set  of  teeth ;  such  a  one  is  very  respectful 
to  her  husband ;  such  a  one  is  very  kind  to  her  poor 
neighbours,  and  besides  has  a  very  handsome  shape ; 
such  a  one  is  always  ready  to  serve  a  friend,  and,  in 
my  opinion,  there  is  not  a  woman  in  town,  that  has 
a  more  agreeable  air  or  gait."  This  fine  kind  of  talk, 
which  lasted  near  half  an  'hour,  she  concluded  by  say- 
ing, "I  do  not  doubt  but  every  one  of  you  has  made 
the  like  observations,  and  I  should  be  glad  to  have  the 
conversation  continued  upon  this  subject."  Just  at 
this  juncture  I  peeped  in  at  the  door,  and  never  in  my 
life  before  saw  such  a  set  of  simple,  vacant  counte- 
nances. They  looked  somehow  neither  glad  nor  sor- 
ry, nor  angry  nor  pleased,  nor  indifferent  nor  attentive  ; 
but  (excuse  the  simile)  like  so  many  images  of  rye- 
dough.  I,  in  the  kitchen,  had  already  begun  a  ridicu- 
lous story  of  Mr.  's  intrigue  with  his  maid,  and 

his  wife's  behaviour  on  the  discovery ;  at  some  of  the 
passages  we  laughed  heartily ;  and  one  of  the  gravest 
of  mamma's  company,  without  making  any  answer  to 
her  discourse,  got  up  to  go  and  see  what  the  girls  were 
so  merry  about.  She  was  followed  by  a  second,  and 
shortly  by  a  third,  till  at  last  the  old  gentlewoman  found 
herself  quite  alone,  and,  being  convinced  that  her 
project  was  impracticable,  came  herself  and  finished 
her  tea  with  us ;  ever  since  which  Saul  also  has  been 
among  the  prophets,  and  our  disputes  lie  dormant. 


542  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

By  industry  and  application,  I  have  made  myself  the 
centre  of  all  the  scandal  in  the  province.  There  is  little 
stirring,  but  I  hear  of  it.  I  began  the  world  with  this 
maxim,  that  no  trade  can  subsist  without  returns ;  and, 
accordingly,  whenever  I  received  a  good  story,  I  en- 
deavoured to  give  two  or  a  better  in  the  room  of  it. 
My  punctuality  in  this  way  of  dealing  gave  such  en- 
couragement, that  it  has  procured  me  an  incredible  deal 
of  business,  which  without  diligence  and  good  method 
it  would  be  impossible  for  me  to  go  through.  For,  be- 
sides the  stock  of  defamation  thus  naturally  flowing  in 
upon  me,  I  practise  an  art,  by  which  I  can  pump  scan- 
dal out  of  people  that  are  the  least  inclined  that  way. 
Shall  I  discover  my  secret  ?  Yes ;  to  let  it  die  with 
me  would  be  inhuman.  If  I  have  never  heard  ill  of 
some  person,  I  always  impute  it  to  defective  intelli- 
gence ;  for  there  are  none  without  their  faults,  no,  not 
one.  If  she  be  a  woman,  I  take  the  first  opportunity  to 
let  all  her  acquaintance  know  I  have  heard,  that  one  of 
the  handsomest  or  best  men  in  town  has  said  something 
in  praise  either  of  her  beauty,  her  wit,  her  virtue,  or 
her  good  management.  If  you  know  any  thing  of  hu- 
man nature,  you  perceive  that  this  naturally  introduces  a 
conversation  turning  upon  all  her  failings,  past,  present, 
and  to  come.  To  the  same  purpose,  and  with  the 
same  success,  I  cause  every  man  of  reputation  to  be 
praised  before  his  competitors  in  love,  business,  or  es- 
teem, on  account  of  any  particular  qualification.  Near 
the  times  of  election,  if  I  find  it  necessary,  I  commend 
every  candidate  before  some  of  the  opposite  party,  lis- 
tening attentively  to  what  is  said  of  him  in  answer.  But 
commendations  in  this  latter  case  are  not  always  neces- 
sary, and  should  be  used  judiciously.  Of  late  years,  I 
needed  only  observe  what  they  said  of  one  another 
freely ;  and  having,  for  the  help  of  memory,  taken  ac- 


SUPPLEMENT  543 

count  of  all  informations  and  accusations  received,  who- 
ever peruses  my  writings  after  my  death,  may  happen 
to  think,  that  during  a  certain  time  the  people  of  Penn- 
sylvania chose  into  all  their  offices  of  honor  and  trust 
the  veriest  knaves,  fools,  and  rascals  in  the  whole  prov- 
ince. The  time  of  election  used  to  be  a  busy  time 
with  me ;  but  this  year,  with  concern  I  speak  it,  people 
are  grown  so  good-natured,  so  intent  upon  mutual 
feasting  and  friendly  entertainment,  that  I  see  no  pros- 
pect of  much  employment  from  that  quarter. 

I  mentioned  above,  that  without  good  method  I  could 
not  go  through  my  business.  In  my  father's  lifetime 
I  had  some  instruction  in  accounts,  which  I  now  apply 
with  advantage  to  my  own  affairs.  I  keep  a  regular 
set  of  books,  and  can  tell,  at  an  hour's  warning,  how  it 
stands  between  me  and  the  world.  In  my  Daybook  I 
enter  every  article  of  defamation  as  it  is  transacted; 
for  scandals  received  in  I  give  credit,  and  when  I  pay 
them  out  again  I  make  the  persons  to  whom  they  re- 
spectively relate  debtor.  In  my  Journal,  I  add  to  each 
story,  by  way  of  improvement,  such  probable  circum- 
stances as  I  think  it  will  bear ;  and  in  my  Leger  the 
whole  is  regularly  posted. 

I  suppose  the  reader  already  condemns  me  in  his 
heart  for  this  particular  of  adding  circumstances  ;  but  I 
justify  this  part  of  my  practice  thus.  It  is  a  principle 
with  me,  that  none  ought  to  have  a  greater  share  of 
reputation,  than  they  really  deserve ;  if  they  have,  it 
is  an  imposition  upon  the  public.  I  know  it  is  every 
one's  interest,  and  therefore  believe  they  endeavour,  to 
conceal  all  their  vices  and  follies ;  and  I  hold  that  those 
people  are  extraordinary  foolish  or  careless,  who  suffer 
one  fourth  of  their  failings  to  come  to  public  knowledge. 
Taking  then  the  common  prudence  and  imprudence  of 
mankind  in  a  lump,  I  suppose  none  suffer  above  one 


544  FRANKLIN'S   WRITINGS. 

fifth  to  be  discovered ;  therefore,  when  I  hear  of  any 
person's  misdoing,  I  think  I  keep  within  bounds,  if  in 
relating  it  I  only  make  it  three  times  worse  than  it  is ; 
and  I  reserve  to  myself  the  privilege  of  charging  them 
with  one  fault  in  four,  which  for  aught  I  know  they 
may  be  entirely  innocent  of.  You  see,  there  are  but 
few  so  careful  of  doing  justice  as  myself.  What  rea- 
son then  have  mankind  to  complain  of  scandal  ?  In  a 
general  way  the  worst  that  is  said  of  us  is  only  half 
what  might  be  said,  if  all  our  faults  were  seen. 

But,  alas !  twro  great  evils  have  lately  befallen  me  at 
the  same  time ;  an  extreme  cold,  that  I  can  scarce 
speak,  and  a  most  terrible  tooth-ache,  that  I  dare  hardly 
open  my  mouth.  For  some  days  past,  I  have  received 
ten  stories  for  one  I  have  paid ;  and  I  am  not  able  to 
balance  my  accounts  without  your  assistance.  I  have 
long  thought,  that  if  you  would  make  your  paper  a 
vehicle  of  scandal,  you  would  double  the  number  of 
your  subscribers.  I  send  you  herewith  accounts  of 
four  knavish  tricks,  two  *  *  *,  five  *  *  *  *, 

three  drubbed  wives,  and  four  henpecked  husbands,  all 
within  this  fortnight;  which  you  may,  as  articles  of 
news,  deliver  to  the  public,  and,  if  my  tooth -ache  con- 
tinues, I  shall  send  you  more,  being  in  the  mean  time 
your  constant  reader, 

ALICE  ADDERTONGUE. 

I  thank  my  correspondent,  Mrs.  Addertongue,  for 
her  good  will,  but  desire  to  be  excused  inserting  the 
articles  of  news  she  has  sent  me,  such  things  being  in 
reality  no  news  at  all. 


SUPPLEMENT.  545 

A   CASE   OF   CASUISTRY. 

TO    THE    PRINTER    OF    THE    GAZETTE. 

ACCORDING  to  the  request  of  your  correspondent, 
T.  P.,  I  send  you  my  thoughts  on  the  following  case 
by  him  proposed,  viz. 

A  man  bargains  for  the  keeping  of  his  horse  six 
months,  whilst  he  is  making  a  voyage  to  Barbadoes. 
The  horse  strays  or  is  stolen  soon  after  the  keeper  has 
him  in  possession.  When  the  owner  demands  the 
value  of  his  horse  in  money,  may  not  the  other  as 
justly  demand  so  much  deducted  as  the  keeping  of 
the  horse  six  months  amounts  to '? 

It  does  not  appear  that  they  had  any  dispute  about 
the  value  of  the  horse ;  whence  we  may  conclude  there 
was  no  reason  for  such  dispute,  but  it  was  well  known 
how  much  he  cost,  and  that  he  could  not  honestly  have 
been  sold  again  for  more.  But  the  value  of  the  horse 
is  not  expressed  in  the  case,  nor  the  sum  agreed  for 
keeping  him  six  months ;  wherefore,  in  order  to  our 
more  clear  apprehension  of  the  thing,  let  ten  pounds 
represent  the  horse's  value,  and  three  pounds  the  sum 
agreed  for  his  keeping. 

Now  the  sole  foundation,  on  which  the  keeper  can 
found  his  demand  of  a  deduction  for  keeping  a  horse 
he  did  not  keep,  is  this.  "  Your  horse,"  he  may  say, 
"which  I  was  to  restore  to  you  at  the  end  of  six 
months,  was  worth  ten  pounds ;  if  I  now  give  you  ten 
pounds,  it  is  an  equivalent  for  your  horse,  and  equal  to 
returning  the  horse  itself.  Had  I  returned  your  horse 
(value  ten  pounds),  you  would  have  paid  me  three 
pounds  for  his  keeping,  and  therefore  would  have  re- 
ceived in  fact  but  seven  pounds  clear.  You  then  suffer 

VOL.  u.  35 


546  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS 

no  injury,  if  I  now  pay  you  seven  pounds ;  and  con- 
sequently you  ought  in  reason  to  allow  me  the  remain- 
ing three  pounds,  according  to  our  agreement." 

But  the  owner  of  the  horse  may  possibly  insist  upon 
being  paid  the  whole  sum  of  ten  pounds,  without  al- 
lowing any  deduction  for  his  keeping  after  he  was  lost, 
and  that  for  these  reasons. 

1.  It  is  always  supposed,  unless  an  express  agree- 
ment be  made  to  the  contrary,  when  horses  are  put  out 
to  keep,  that  the  keeper  is  at  the  risk  of  them ;  una- 
voidable accidents  only  excepted,  wherein  no  care  of 
the  keeper  can  be  supposed  sufficient  to  preserve  them, 
such  as   their  being    slain    by   lightening  or    the  like. 
This  you  yourself  tacitly  allow,  when  you  offer  to  re- 
store me  the  value  of  my  horse.     Were  it  otherwise, 
people,  having   no   security  against  a  keeper's  neglect 
or   mismanagement,    would   never  put    horses   out   to 
keep. 

2.  Keepers,   considering  the   risk  they    run,  always 
demand  such  a  price  for  keeping  horses,  that,  if  they 
were  to    follow  the  business  twenty  years,  they  may 
have  a  living  profit,  though  they  now  and  then  pay  for 
a  horse  they  have  lost ;    and,  if  they  were  to  be  at  no 
risk,   they  might  afford  to   keep   horses  for   less  than 
they  usually  have.     So  that  what  a   man  pays   for  his 
horse's  keeping,  more  than  the  keeper  could  afford  to 
take  if  he  ran  no  risk,  is  in  the  nature  of  a   premium 
for  the  insurance  of  his  horse.     If  I  then  pay  you  for 
the  few  days  you  kept  my  horse,  you  should  restore 
me  his  full  value. 

3.  You  acknowledge,  that  my  horse  eat  of  your  hay 
and  oats  but  a  few  days.     It  is  unjust  then  to  charge 
me  for  all  the  hay  and  oats,  that  he  only  might  have 
eat  in   the  remainder  of  the  six  months,  and  which  you 
have  now  still  good  in  your  stable.     If,  as  the  proverb 


SUPPLEMENT.  547 

says,  it  is  unreasonable  to  expect  a  horse  should  void 
oats,  which  never  eat  any,  it  is  certainly  as  unreason- 
able to  expect  payment  for  those  oats. 

4.  If  men  in  such  cases  as  this  are  to  be  paid  for 
keeping  horses  when  they  were  not  kept,  then  they 
have  a  great  opportunity  of  wronging  the  owners  of 
horses.     For  by  privately  selling  my  horse  for  his  value 
(ten   pounds)   soon   after  you  had   him   in  possession, 
and  returning   me,  at  the  expiration  of  the  time,  only 
seven  pounds,  demanding  three  pounds  as  a  deduction 
agreed  for  his  keeping,  you  get  that  three  pounds  clear 
into  your   pocket,  besides  the  use  of   my  money  six 
months  for  nothing. 

5.  But,  you  say,  the  value  of  my  horse   being  ten 
pounds,  if  you  deduct  three  for   his  keeping  and  re- 
turn me  seven,  it  is  all  I  would  in  fact  have  received 
had  you  returned  my  horse ;  therefore,  as  I  am  no  loser, 
I  ought  to  be  satisfied.     This  argument,  were  there  any 
weight  in  it,  might  serve  to  justify  a  man  in  selling,  as 
above,  as  many  of  the  horses  he  takes  to  keep  as  he 
conveniently  can,  putting  clear  into  his  own  pocket  that 
charge  their  owners  must  have  been  at  for  their  keep- 
ing ;  for,  this  being  no  loss  to  the  owners,  he  may  say, 
"Where   no  man  is  a  loser,    why  should  not  I  be  a 
gainer  ?  "     I  need  only  answer  to  this,  that  I  allow  the 
horse  cost  me  but  ten  pounds,  nor  could  I  have  sold 
him  for  more,  had  I  been  disposed  to  part  with  him;  but 
this  can  be  no  reason  why  you  should  buy  him  of  me 
at  that  price,  whether  I  will  sell  him  or  not.     For  it  is 
plain    I    valued    him    at  thirteen   pounds,   otherwise    I 
should  not  have  paid  ten  pounds  for  him,  and  agreed 
to  give  you  three  pounds  more  for  his  keeping,  till  I 
had  occasion  to  use  him.     Thus,  though  you  pay  me 
the  whole  ten  pounds  which   he  cost  me,   (deducting 
only  for  his  keeping  those  few  days,)  I  am  still  a  loser ; 


548  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS- 

I  lose  the  charge  of  those  days'  keeping ;  I  lose  the 
three  pounds  at  which  I  valued  him  above  what  he 
cost  me,  and  I  lose  the  advantage  I  might  have  made 
of  my  money  in  six  months,  either  by  the  interest,  or 
by  joining  it  to  my  stock  in  trade  in  my  voyage  to  Bar- 
badoes. 

6.  Lastly,  whenever  a  horse  is  put  to  keep,  the 
agreement  naturally  runs  thus.  The  keeper  says,  "I 
will  feed  your  horse  six  months  on  good  hay  and  oats, 
if,  at  the  end  of  that  time,  you  will  pay  me  three 
pounds."  The  owner  says,  "  If  you  will  feed  my  horse 
six  months  on  good  hay  and  oats,  I  will  pay  you  three 
pounds  at  the  end  of  that  time."  Now  we  may  plainly 
see,  the  keeper's  performance  of  his  part  of  the  agree- 
ment must  be  antecedent  to  that  of  the  owner ;  and, 
the  agreement  being  wholly  conditional,  the  owner's 
part  is  not  in  force  till  the  keeper  has  performed  his. 
You,  then,  not  having  fed  my  horse  six  months,  as  you 
agreed  to  do,  there  lies  no  obligation  on  me  to  pay  for 
so  much  feeding. 

Thus  we  have  heard  what  can  be  said  on  both 
sides.  Upon  the  whole,  I  am  of  opinion,  that  no  de- 
duction should  be  allowed  for  the  keeping  of  the  horse 
after  the  time  of  his  straying. 

I  am  yours,  &c. 
THE  CASUIST. 


SUPPLEMENT.  549 


MISCELLANEOUS   OBSERVATIONS. 

WHENCE  does  it  proceed,  that  the  proselytes  to  any 
sect,  or  persuasion,  generally  appear  more  zealous  than 
those  that  are  bred  up  in  it? 

Answer.  I  suppose  that  people  bred  in  different 
persuasions  are  nearly  zealous  alike.  Then,  he  that 
changes  his  party  is  either  sincere  or  not  sincere ;  that 
is,  he  either  does  it  for  the  sake  of  the  opinions  merely, 
or  with  a  view  of  interest.  If  he  is  sincere,  and  has  no 
view  of  interest,  and  considers,  before  he  declares  him- 
self, how  much  ill  will  he  shall  have  from  those  he 
leaves,  and  that  those  he  is  about  to  go  among  will  be 
apt  to  suspect  his  sincerity ;  if  he  is  not  really  zealous, 
he  will  not  declare ;  and,  therefore,  must  be  zealous  if 
he  does  declare. 

If  he  is  not  sincere,  he  is  obliged  at  least  to  put  on 
an  appearance  of  great  zeal,  to  convince  the  better  his 
new  friends,  that  he  is  heartily  in  earnest ;  for  his  old 
ones,  he  knows,  dislike  him.  And,  as  few  acts  of  zeal 
will  be  more  taken  notice  of,  than  such  as  are  done 
against  the  party  he  has  left,  he  is  inclined  to  injure  or 
malign  them,  because  he  knows  they  contemn  and 
despise  him.  Hence,  as  the  proverb  says,  One  renegado 
is  worse  than  ten  Turks. 


SIR, 

It  is  strange,  that  among  men,  who  are  born  for  soci- 
ety and  mutual  solace,  there  should  be  any  who  take 
pleasure  in  speaking  disagreeable  things  to  their  ac- 
quaintance. But  such  there  are,  I  assure  you ;  and  1 
should  be  glad  if  a  little  public  chastisement  might  be 


550  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

any  means  of  reforming  them.  These  ill-natured  peo- 
ple study  a  man's  temper,  or  the  circumstances  of  his 
life,  merely  to  know  what  disgusts  him,  and  what  he 
does  not  care  to  hear  mentioned  ;  and  this  they  take 
care  to  omit  no  opportunity  of  disturbing  him  with. 
They  communicate  their  wonderful  discoveries  to  oth- 
ers, with  an  ill-natured  satisfaction  in  their  counte- 
nances ;  Say  such  a  thing  to  such  a  man  and  you  cannot 
mortify  him  worse.  They  delight  (to  use  their  own 
phrase)  in  seeing  galled  horses  wince,  and,  like  flies,  a 
sore  place  is  a  feast  to  them.  Know,  ye  wretches,  that 
the  meanest  insect,  the  trifling  musqueto,  the  filthy  bug, 
have  it  in  their  power  to  give  pain  to  men ;  but  to  be 
able  to  give  pleasure  to  your  fellow  creatures  requires 
good  nature  and  a  kind  and  humane  disposition,  joined 
with  talents  to  which  ye  seem  to  have  no  pretension. 

X.    Y. 


IF  a  sound  body  and  a  sound  mind,  which  is  as 
much  as  to  say,  health  and  virtue,  are  to  be  preferred 
before  all  other  considerations,  ought  not  men,  in  choos- 
ing a  business  either  for  themselves  or  children,  to  re- 
fuse such  as  are  unwholsome  for  the  body,  and  such 
as  make  a  man  too  dependent,  too  much  obliged  to 
please  others,  and  too  much  subjected  to  their  humors 
in  order  to  be  recommended  and  get  a  livelihood  ? 


I  AM  about  courting  a  girl  I  have  had  but  little  ac- 
quaintance with.  How  shall  I  come  to  a  knowledge  of 
ner  faults,  and  whether  she  has  the  virtues  I  imagine 
she  has? 

Answer.  Commend  her  among  her  female  acquaint- 
ance. 


SUPPLEMENT.  551 

THE  great  secret  of  succeeding  in  conversation  is, 
to  admire  little,  to  hear  much ;  always  to  distrust  our 
own  reason,  and  sometimes  that  of  our  friends ;  never 
to  pretend  to  wit,  but  tc  make  that  of  others  appear  as 
much  as  possibly  we  can ;  to  hearken  to  what  is  said, 
and  to  answer  to  the  purpose. 


IN  vain  are  musty  morals  taught  in  schools, 
By  rigid  teachers  and  as  rigid  rules, 
Where  virtue  with  a  frowning  aspect  stands, 
And  frights  the  pupil  with  her  rough  commands. 

But  woman 

Charming  woman  can  true  converts  make, 
We  love  the  precepts  for  the  teacher's  sake; 
Virtue  in  her  appears  so  bright  and  gay, 
We  hear  with  pleasure  and  with  pride  obey. 


PROPOSALS    AND   QUERIES 
FOR  THE  CONSIDERATION  OF  THE  JUNTO.* 

PROPOSALS. 

THAT  P.  S.  and  A.  N.  be  immediately  invited  into 
the  Junto. 

That  all  new  members  be  qualified  by  the  four  qual- 
ifications, and  all  the  old  ones  take 

That  these  queries,  copied  at  the  beginning  of  a 
book,  be  read  distinctly  at  each  meeting ;  a  pause  be- 

*  For  an  account  of  the  JUNTO,  see  above,  p.  9.  The  Queries  appear 
to  have  been  the  author's  first  thoughts,  written  down  without  regard 
to  method,  and  in  parts  are  unfinished. 


552  FRANKLIN'S    WRITINGS. 

tween  each,  while  one  might  fill  and  drink  a  glas*  of 
wine. 

That,  if  they  cannot  be  gone  through  in  one  night, 
we  begin  the  next  where  we  left  off;  only  such  as 
particularly  regard  the  Junto  to  be  read  every  night. 

That  it  be  not  hereafter  the  duty  of  any  member  to 
bring  queries,  but  left  to  his  discretion. 

That  an  old  declamation  be  read  without  fail  every 
night,  when  there  is  no  new  one. 

That  Mr.  Brientnal's  poem  on  the  Junto  be  read 
once  a  month,  and  hummed  in  concert  by  as  many  as 
can  hum  it. 

That,  in  spring,  summer,  and  fall,  the  Junto  meet 
once  a  month  in  the  afternoon,  hi  some  proper  place 
across  the  river,  for  bodily  exercise. 

That  in  the  aforesaid  book  be  kept  minutes,  thus; 

Friday,  June  30th,  1732. 
Present,  A  B,  C  D,  E  F,  &c. 

«.  f  1.  H.  read  this  maxim,  viz.,  or  this  experi- 

Jjigures  ment)  yiz^  or?  &c 

<  5.  Lately  arrived  one ,  of  such  a  pro- 

prprl  fession,  or  such  a  science,  &c. 

ed'  [?.  X.  Y.  grew  rich  by  this  means,  &,c. 

That  these  minutes  be  read  once  a  year  at  the  an- 
niversary. 

That  all  fines  due  be  immediately  paid  in,  and  the 
penal  laws  for  queries  and  declamations  abolished ;  only 
he  who  is  absent  above  ten  times  in  the  year  to  pay 
ten  shillings  towards  the  anniversary  entertainment. 

That  the  Secretary,  for  keeping  the  minutes,  be  al- 
lowed one  shilling  per  night,  to  be  paid  out  of  the 
money  already  in  his  hands. 

That,  after  the  queries  are  begun  reading,  all  dis- 
course foreign  to  them  shall  be  deemed  impertinent. 

When  any  thing  from   reading    an    author   is    men- 


SUPPLEMENT.  553 

tioned,  if  it  exceed  a  line,  and  the  Junto  require  it, 
the  person  shall  bring  the  passage  or  an  abstract  of  it 
the  next  night,  if  he  has  it  not  with  him. 

When  the  books  of  the  library  come,  every  member 
shall  undertake  some  author,  that  he  may  not  be  with- 
out observations  to  communicate. 


QUERIES. 


How  shall  we  judge  of  the  goodness  of  a  writing? 
Or  what  qualities  should  a  writing  have  to  be  good  and 
perfect  in  its  kind? 

Jlnswer.  To  be  good,  it  ought  to  have  a  tendency 
to  benefit  the  reader,  by  improving  his  virtue  or  his 
knowledge.  But,  not  regarding  the  intention  of  the 
author,  the  method  should  be  just;  that  is,  it  should 
proceed  regularly  from  things  known  to  things  un- 
known, distinctly  and  clearly  without  confusion.  The 
words  used  should  be  the  most  expressive  that  the 
language  affords,  provided  that  they  are  the  most  gen- 
erally understood.  Nothing  should  be  expressed  in 
two  words  that  can  be  as  well  expressed  in  one ;  that 
is,  no  synonymes  should  be  used,  or  very  rarely,  but 
the  whole  should  be  as  short  as  possible,  consistent 
with  clearness.  The  words  should  be  so  placed  as  to 
be  agreeable  to  the  ear  in  reading ;  summarily,  it 
should  be  smooth,  clear,  and  short.  For  the  contrary 
qualities  are  displeasing. 

But,  taking  the  query  otherwise,  an  ill  man  may 
write  an  ill  thing  well ;  that  is,  having  an  ill  design,  he 
may  use  the  properest  style  and  arguments  (consider- 
ing who  are  to  be  readers)  to  attain  his  ends.  In  this 
sense,  that  is  best  wrote,  which  is  best  adapted  for  ob- 
taining the  end  of  the  writer. 


554  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

Can  a  man  arrive  at  perfection  in  this  life,  as  some 
believe ;  or  is  it  impossible,  as  others  believe  1 

Answer.  Perhaps  they  differ  in  the  meaning  of  the 
word  perfection.  I  suppose  the  perfection  of  any  thing 
to  be  only  the  greatest  the  nature  of  the  thing  is  capa- 
ble of.  Different  things  have  different  degrees  of  per- 
fection, and  the  same  thing  at  different  times.  Thus,  a 
horse  is  more  perfect  than  an  oyster,  yet  the  oyster 
may  be  a  perfect  oyster,  as  well  as  the  horse  a  perfect 
horse.  And  an  egg  is  not  so  perfect  as  a  chicken,  nor 
a  chicken  as  a  hen;  for  the  hen  has  more  strength 
than  the  chicken,  and  the  chicken  more  life  than  the 
egg ;  yet  it  may  be  a  perfect  egg,  chicken,  and  hen. 

If  they  mean  a  man  cannot  in  this  life  be  so  perfect 
as  an  angel,  it  may  be  true ;  for  an  angel,  by  being  in- 
corporeal, is  allowed  some  perfections  we  are  at  present 
incapable  of,  and  less  liable  to  some  imperfections  than 
we  are  liable  to.  If  they  mean  a  man  is  not  capable 
of  being  as  perfect  here  as  he  is  capable  of  being  in 
heaven,  that  may  be  true  likewise.  But  that  a  man  is 
not  capable  of  being  so  perfect  here,  as  he  is  capable 
of  being  here,  is  not  sense  ;  it  is  as  if  I  should  say, 
a  chicken,  in  the  state  of  a  chicken,  is  not  capable  of 
being  so  perfect  as  a  chicken  is  capable  of  being  in 
that  state. 

In  the  above  sense,  there  may  be  a  perfect  oyster, 
a  perfect  horse,  a  perfect  ship  ;  why  not  a  perfect  man  1 
That  is,  as  perfect  as  his  present  nature  and  circum- 
stances admit. 


Question.  Wherein  consists  the  happiness  of  a  ra- 
tional creature  ? 

Answer.  In  having  a  sound  mind  and  a  healthy 
body,  a  sufficiency  of  the  necessaries  and  convenien- 


SUPPLEMENT.  555 

ces  of  life,  together  with  the  favor  of  God  and  the  love 
of  mankind. 

Q.     What  do  you  mean  by  a  sound  mind? 

Jl.  A  faculty  of  reasoning  justly  and  truly  in 
searching  after  such  truths  as  relate  to  my  happiness. 
This  faculty  is  the  gift  of  God,  capable  of  being  im- 
proved by  experience  and  instruction  into  wisdom. 

Q.     What  is  wisdom? 

Jl.  The  knowledge  of  what  will  be  best  for  us  on 
all  occasions,  and  the  best  ways  of  attaining  it. 

Q.     Is  any  man  wise  at  all  times  and  in  all  things? 

Jl.  No,  but  some  are  more  frequently  wise  than 
others. 

Q.     What  do  you  mean  by  the  necessaries  of  life  ? 

A.  Having  wholesome  food  and  drink  wherewith  to 
satisfy  hunger  and  thirst,  clothing,  and  a  place  of  hab- 
itation fit  to  secure  against  the  inclemencies  of  the 
weather. 

Q.  What  do  you  mean  by  the  conveniences  of 
life? 

Jl.     Such  a  plenty 


Whether  it  is  worth  a  rational  man's  while  to  fore- 
go the  pleasure  arising  from  the  present  luxury  of 
the  age,  in  eating  and  drinking,  and  artful  cookery, 
studying  to  gratify  the  appetite,  for  the  sake  of  enjoy- 
ing a  healthy  old  age,  a  sound  mind,  and  a  sound 
body,  which  are  the  advantages  reasonably  to  be  ex- 
pected from  a  more  simple  and  temperate  diet? 

Whether  those  meats  and  drinks  are  not  the  best, 
that  contain  nothing  in  their  natural  taste,  nor  have  any 
thing  added  by  art,  so  pleasing  as  to  induce  us  to  eat 
or  drink  when  we  are  not  thirsty  or  hungry,  or  after 


556  FRANKLIN'S  WRITINGS. 

thirst  and  hunger  are  satisfied;  water,  for  instance, 
for  drink,  and  bread  or  the  like  for  meat? 

Is  there  any  difference  between  knowledge  and 
prudence  ?  If  there  is  any,  which  of  the  two  is  most 
eligible  ? 

Is  it  justifiable  to  put  private  men  to  death  for  the 
sake  of  public  safety  or  tranquillity,  who  have  com- 
mitted no  crime  1  As,  in  the  case  of  the  plague,  to 
stop  infection;  or,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Welshmen 
here  executed  ? 


If  the  sovereign  power  attempts  to  deprive  a  sub- 
ject of  his  right,  (or,  which  is  the  same  thing,  of  what 
he  thinks  his  right,)  is  it  justifiable  in  him  to  resist,  if 
he  is  able? 

What  general  conduct  of  life  is  most  suitable  for 
men  in  such  circumstances  as  most  of  the  members  of 
the  Junto  are?  Or,  of  the  many  schemes  of  living 
which  are  in  our  power  to  pursue,  which  will  be  most 
probably  conducive  to  our  happiness  ? 

Which  is  best,  to  make  a  friend  of  a  wise  and  good 
man  that  is  poor,  or  of  a  rich  man  that  is  neither  wise 
nor  good  ? 

Which  of  the  two  is  the  greatest  loss  to  a  country 
if  they  both  die  ? 

Which  of  the  two  is  happiest  in  life? 

Does  it  not,  in  a  general  way,  require  great  study 
and  intense  application  for  a  poor  man  to  become  rich 
and  powerful,  if  he  would  do  it  without  the  forfeiture 
of  his  honesty? 

Does  it  not  require  as  much  pains,  study,  and  appli- 
cation, to  become  truly  wise  and  strictly  virtuous,  as  to 
become  rich? 


SUPPLEMENT.  557 

Can  a  man  of  common  capacity  pursue  both  views 
with  success,  at  the  same  time  ? 

If  not,  which  of  the  two  is  it  best  for  him  to  make 
his  whole  application  to  ? 


Whence  comes  the  dew,  that  stands  on  the  outside 
of  a  tankard  that  has  cold  water  in  it  in  the  summer 
time? 

Does  the  importation  of  servants  increase  or  ad- 
vance the  wealth  of  our  country? 

Would  not  an  office  of  insurance  for  servants  be  of 
service,  and  what  methods  are  proper  for  the  erecting 
such  an  office  ? 


END    OF    VOL.    II. 


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